Different schools of thought on land use

By Rebecca Fraser
TWO Casey councillors have called on the Education Department to defer the sale of land next to Timbarra Primary School in Berwick so the council has more time to consider the best use for the site.
The move followed a meeting at the school between Edrington Ward councillors Brian Hetherton and Mick Morland last Thursday, when, along with Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan and LaTrobe MP Jason Wood, they discussed the possibility of the council acquiring the land.
Timbarra Primary School principal Jan Adamson hosted the meeting.
Cr Morland initially said the council should try and acquire the land or a land swap could possibly occur and a new sporting facility could be built.
However, he has since changed his mind and has said a secondary college should be built on the land.
Cr Morland said he would be calling a public meeting in April to discuss the issue and would be collecting signatures in support of the secondary school to be tabled in Parliament.
“I want the Government to make a commitment to the people of Timbarra and build a secondary school on the land,” he said.
“Parents from Timbarra have to send their children all the way to Kambrya and they have 230 students in year seven this year.
Cr Morland said the money the council saved in no longer needing to purchase the land could help fund a joint-use sport facility at the secondary school.
Mr Wood said he too believed the land belonged to the Timbarra community and should be given at no cost so that either a secondary school or recreational facility could be built.
He said the Government was playing a tough football game with the local community and if the land was sold off for development it would be gone forever.
“Casey is such a fast-growing area and has such a high intake of under 15s,” Mr Wood said.
“We really need to look to the future and provide for these children.”
Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan said the Education Department would only part with the land if market value was paid.
He said he would not mislead people by suggesting the land would be given to the community at less than a properly accessed valuation.
Cr Hetherton said the council needed to look at the long-term future and he was not sure a big basketball stadium was the answer.
He urged local residents to contact him and express their views on the matter and said it was important the council acted now.
“It is too expensive to go in with bulldozers and rip up houses when they are developed,” he said.
“When the land is gone it is gone.
“This is a prime location and when I put this motion up it was not just to benefit Timbarra residents but the whole Casey community, and in particular residents living in Endeavour Hills and other nearby suburbs as well.”