A Melbourne private school launched an unsuccessful legal bid to block a 24-hour mental health facility from being built next door, after it argued it posed a risk to students’ safety and would affect its future viability.
Last year, Yarra city council granted a planning permit for the construction of the facility next to Alphington Grammar school, about 7km north-east of the Melbourne CBD, after the proposal sparked backlash from parents of students.
The school then sought to overturn the decision in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Vcat).
But a Vcat decision handed down last month found that the facility had a “net community benefit” and the school’s argument it would present an unacceptable risk to students and its community were unfounded.
“We find the operation of a mental health facility will have negligible risk to the school students and community provided it operates in accordance with the OMP [operational management plan] and conditions on the permit,” the tribunal found.
Alphington Grammar declined to comment.
The school had argued the facility – which would provide overnight and same-day treatment for people with mild to moderate psychiatric conditions – would put students at risk from potential interaction with clients as they made their way to school.
It also argued the risk and perception of risk would affect its economic viability.
“It submits the proposed use may have negative psychological impacts on its students due to exposure to patients who may be experiencing manic episodes, disturbed behaviour or low inhibitions,” the Vcat decision said. “It says this poses a security risk that has not been properly addressed.”
The school called Assoc Prof Peter Doherty, a psychiatrist, to address Vcat. He told the tribunal that suicidal acts and deliberate self-harm could occur outside the facility’s boundaries and expose students to distressing behaviour.
But private provider the Healthe Care Group, the operator of the proposed facility, argued the school’s concerns were overstated and resulted from a “misunderstanding of the nature of the facility, its proposed patients and operation”.
Vcat accepted the evidence of Prof Louise Newman, a psychiatrist called by the Healthe Care Group, who said clients receiving treatment would have low to moderate mental health issues and were “more likely to be reserved and unlikely to engage in disturbing public behaviour”.
They also agreed with her recommendation that students should be “supported in developing mental health resilience”, as opposed to the school’s argument that they needed to be protected from potential negative effects.
Vcat members Jane Tait and Nick Wimbush concluded that the concerns raised by the school about the effect on students were “unfounded”.
They also said the school had not provided any evidence that its enrolments had dropped since the planning permit application was submitted in support of its concerns about its economic viability.
Vcat ordered the planning permit be granted, subject to conditions including for the facility to build a 1.8-metre-high fence along one of its boundaries and visiting hours to be limited to avoid clashing with school pickup times.
Healthe Care declined to comment on the legal proceedings.
The site for the facility was previously an aged care centre. It would have capacity for 30 inpatients and eight day patients and operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Its clients would be restricted to those on a voluntary basis and exclude people on compulsory treatment orders and those unable to consent to their treatment.
