The group opposing the centre-town location of the proposed Bungendore High School believes the rorts scandal embroiling John Barilaro should be the catalyst for a review of other major decisions by the former NSW deputy Premier.
Opponents of the proposal have written to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet seeking a meeting over the troubled, fast-tracked $71 million Bungendore project, citing a lack of due process and a failure by the government to properly consider the "damage" the site would have on the "heart of a historic small town".
The decision by the former NSW deputy Premier to derail due process and secure himself a $500,000 position as a New York-based trade and investment commissioner - a position he created when in government - has generated significant embarrassment for the NSW government.
NSW Trade Minister Stuart Ayres resigned as minister last week as the scrutiny into the Barilaro affair ramped up.
The Save Bungendore Park group has been campaigning vigorously against a centre-town site for the high school which would cleave off a large section of the historic Mick Sherd Oval playing field and common, remove the former Palerang Shire council chambers now serving as a shopfront, close off a street, and remove both the existing Bungendore swimming pool and community centre.
The group wants a new high school for the growing country town, but not in the proposed location. It says the centre-town site would have an adverse impact on "traffic, parking and safe access to the local primary school", and greatly diminish the local community's common areas and sporting facilities.
The now disgraced Mr Barilaro had been a key driver behind the centre-town site known as Bungendore Park over a greenfields site on the edge of the village selected by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.
The group says the proposed centre-town site has significant constraints for future expansion and will have a capacity for only 450 students.
It is projected that the school would reach capacity within three years of opening. Demountable classrooms are planned to be installed at the Bungendore Park site.
In its letter to the NSW Premier urging his intervention, the group says the Department of Education is pursuing a project which is "extremely expensive" and "which will be inadequate to serve the community's needs from the day it opens and which has a very short design life".
"There was no community consultation undertaken prior to the announcement that the Bungendore Park site had been chosen for the new school," the group said in its correspondence.
"We are being treated like ignorant country hicks, assumed to be incapable of seeing through obvious spin and misinformation and expected to be won over by jargon and glossy brochures."
