The regional New South Wales town of Bungendore will finally get a high school after four years of legal headaches after the announcement of the $71m project by the then state deputy premier and member for Monaro, John Barilaro.
The new high school, a 2019 election commitment due to be built by January 2023 in the middle of Bungendore’s heritage precinct, required the demolition of its pool, community centre and council offices. It caused immediate division and outrage among residents.
But the plans, dismissed by one group of education department experts as “unworkable”, faced legal defeat in December last year when the land and environment court found the 2021 development application ignored crown land law.
Revised plans lodged this June generated objections from the local Queanbeyan-Palerang regional council over traffic problems and the Department of Education’s decision to remove the school hall, canteen, oval and amenities blocks.
On Wednesday, the deputy premier and education minister, Prue Car, is set to visit the town to announce her department will abandon Barilaro’s plans to build the school across parts of the historic Bungendore park.
Instead, Car will seek to build the school on a new, larger greenfield site adjacent to the town’s growing new residential subdivisions, to be open in early 2027 – four years later than originally promised.
The four-hectare site, acquired by the department, includes space for a full-size playing field and will be able to accommodate predicted enrolment growth, the government said. Bungendore is part of the fastest-growing area in regional NSW.
“Families have been rightly frustrated by the uncertainty over when their high school would be able to be built,” Car said, blaming poor planning by the former government for “division in the community”.
“This site will ensure we are able to provide the best public education and facilities for students in Bungendore well into the future.”
Community group Save Bungendore Park, which has lobbied the state government for years to find a revised site for the proposed school, said the announcement was a “new beginning” for what had been a “very troubled project”.
In the interim period, year 7 and 8 students have learned in a makeshift $3m demountable set up in the grounds of the primary school, powered by a diesel generator.
From term one next year, the temporary high school will be open to students up to year 10, expanding to include classrooms within the former council offices. Future use of the original site will be determined once the school is complete.
A spokesperson for the group, Maureen Elgood, said it was “obvious right from the start” the original location “simply didn’t work”.
“We regret that it has taken four years to reach this point, and we regret that it has caused so much hurt in our community along the way,” she said.
“Hopefully this closes a very difficult chapter and gives us a chance to heal.
“We’ve always said that the quickest way to get a great high school for Bungendore was to find a site that actually worked. It looks like the [state] government has finally done that.”
The Labor member for Monaro, Steve Whan, welcomed the announcement after “years of unnecessary delays”.
“The former government’s secrecy failed to meet the community’s expectations, as did overly optimistic advice from the department,” he said.
“This has been a long and frustrating process for the entire community, and I thank you all for your patience while we finally get under way with building the new school.”
