In NSW, schools are a permissible use in a residential area. This means that a school (or childcare centre) can be proposed next door to you at any time. Previously, only public schools could be built by-passing the Council Development Applications (DA) process. Now, the state government is proposing to extend that benefit to private school operators. This will allow for the construction of classrooms, childcare centres, gymnasiums and lecture theatres as high as 22 metre (4 storey).

No DA is required.

No consultation is required.

Just a letter advising that work will commence in a couple of days time.

The government needs to accommodate an additional 170,000 students over the next 15 years.

Source:  Lisa Visentin, p.1 SMH, Friday 26 May 2017

Willoughby Council has endorsed new powers relating to boat trailer parking throughout Willoughby City Council. The new regulations are designed to discourage the nuisance caused by the long term parking of unattended registered boat trailers on public roads, often caused by people who do not live in the local area.

This follows overwhelming support from the local community for the new restrictions (82.8 per cent of survey participants), during community consultation. The new powers also aim to encourage off-street storage of boat trailers to free up on-street parking spaces for local residents.

The new legislation (following recent amendments to The Impounding Act, 1993) relates only to registered boat trailers, with registered box trailers and caravans excluded. The changes enable councils to implement tighter management arrangements in relation to registered boat trailers that may otherwise be parking lawfully on public roads.

Under the new powers, nuisance boat trailers may be required to move at least every 28 days, and must move at least one street block. If the boat trailer does not move, Council must provide the registered owner with 15 days’ notice before impounding the trailer and also has the option of establishing a charge for the release of an impounded item.

Over the last 12 months Council received 30 complaints about boat trailer parking.

“The new restrictions have overwhelming community support and sit well alongside Council’s overall Street Parking Strategy which aims to manage demand for, and increase street parking capacity across the Willoughby area,” said Willoughby Mayor Gail Giles-Gidney.

Education strategies continue to evolve. The latest see a class size of 112 students being taught by 5 teachers. When it comes to direct instruction, the school claims one teacher can teach 40 or 50 students.

Such classrooms are the new form of composite classes. A paradigm that is contested by some educationalists. The traditional composite class was often created by combining two year groups (e.g. yr  5 & yr 6). This evoloved to creating aged based classes then to classes catering for students with similar skills or needs. Often, there is only a few composite classes in a school, leading some parents to feel that their child is being disadvantaged.

Some doyens of pedagogy believe that the multi-age approach is better for teaching and learning. Mixed grade classes provide much more overt recognition of different learning needs. However, others counsel that schools should have either all or no composite classes to overcome the stigma often associated with composite classes.

Source: Pallava Singhal and Inga Tong, The classroom with 112 students. The Sun-Herald May 21, 2017 p. 12.

Not only are enrollments in public education soaring, schools are soaring to catch up.

According to sustainable, architectural firm DesignInc. State governments are turning to CBD vertical school designs. Schools are now being built over multiple levels (typically 6 stories) because of a lack of green or vacant space to cope with population needs.

The spaces in such schools are ‘integrated’ combining learning, spaces, common areas, natural light, convertible spaces, libraries doubling as learning hubs, and terraces. The boundaries are becoming blurred as education stumbles towards uncharted waters. Designers are attempting to future proof schools with innovative design – adaptive change?.

The traditional school of the 60s (1860s?) had a lot of glass but they were not light. Lockers blocked corridors.

Modern learning environments may not have enough chairs for students who may have a stand-up desk or space to use their multiple mobile devices. Teachers without desks and perhaps in the future classes without traditional teachers? (Autonomous/ collaborative learning perhaps?). Design shaping pedagogy perhaps. Ken Boal of Tech giant Cisco feels that “if teachers  have been doing something for 20 (or 40) years I symthasise. More training of teachers is needed“.

Back to the design of these perhaps ‘teacherless’ learning spaces, according to one luminary, “the spaces were are designing are not big open (empty) barns, but they can be if needed‘.

Source: Verity Edwards,Only way is up for schools, Weekend Australian May 20-21 2017 p.47

Council is promoting the following events:

Speed date a sustainability expert

Meet with a sustainability expert for practical advice.

Turning your dream home into a reality

Paucity of achievement perhaps?

Willoughby Councilors are in a tizz. The Local Government Renumeration Tribunal has advised them that their pay will be cut by around 20% per annum.

Willoughby has been reclassified as a ‘small’ city. The classification is based on the size of the population, total revenue and the provision of regional services.

Many Councillors have stated that ‘we do not do it for the money’, yet the decision to protest the cuts to the State Government was unanimous.

Let’s hope we do not see Councilors approving more development applications that increase population and generate revenue.

The aspect of providing regional services is interesting, Willoughby certainly get a tick for health (RNSH), retail and cultural facilities (The Concourse). However, these were achievements of previous Councils, not his one. The current Council, in its unique wisdom, decided to depart from one of the most successful Council collaboration initiatives on the North Shore – the Shorelink library network.

When council amalgamations were announced, Willoughby Council was advised that it did not meet the scale criteria, so there should be no surprise that it has been judged wanting on a number of fronts.

However, there are other disappointing aspects of this Council’s performance. Attendance at Council meetings:

Over the past two years, one Councilor has skipped 52% of meetings; two have skipped 30% and two have skipped 27%; 25% one and  23% one. There are 12 Councilors, six of them have skipped over 20% of meetings. Looks like everyone will pay for the ‘sins’ of some.

The Mayor on the other hand has attended every meeting (as well has hundreds of community events). Unfortunately, she is hit the hardest by the pay cuts.

In West Ward, we have been particularly underrepresented at meetings. Clr Saville has only missed 2 meetings. Our other representatives missed 52% and 27%.

You can access the Councillor Attendance Registers HERE

Demolition of buildings at key sites is currently being prepared.  This includes the Chatswood Dive Site (old Ausgrid Site at the corner of Mowbray Rd and the Pacific Highway).  Current plan is to commence demolition around mid-May at key locations where new stations (& the Chatswood Dive Site) are to be located.

Underground utility is being located as geotech investigations continue along the Metro route.

Feedback about heritage issues are now being collated; and an “Unexpected Finds Plan” is nearing completion

The heritage team is recording all ‘salvageable items’, including movable heritage item such as a steam carpet cleaner.  Other items being archived include entire ‘art deco’ items from old buildings being demolished to accommodate the new stations.  An exhibition of these items are currently being considered.

Sustainability issues are being addressed through the listing of initiatives that account for Climate Change, resource management, people and communities.  Some initiatives of interest include the following:

□             All underground stations will aim to achieve 5 star Green Star rating.

□             100% reuse of spoil

□             33% of water will be from reusable sources

□             95% of construction waste will be reused

□             Affordable housing being considered particularly over new stations

□             TfNSW will be working with the City of Sydney to rehouse the homeless

Officers from Willoughby Council recently attended a meeting (2 May) and raised the issue of our community’s concerns about noise and dust when work begins at the Chatswood Dive Site and conveyed the request that Willoughby is still waiting for a response regarding the setting up of a community liaison group so that Willoughby’s community will be able to provide feedback on the effectiveness of TfNSW’s noise and dust mitigation initiatives.  A response to that request is still being considered by TfNSW.

New high-rise school, Alexandria. Will Chatswood Public be next?

The NSW state government has announced a $5b plan to tackle the overcrowding crisis in NSW schools. This will be undertaken by a new agency to be known as Education Infrastructure NSW. The following is a summary of the new strategy.

2017 School infrastructure initiative (Education Infrastructure NSW)

The NSW government has announced a bold $5 billion plan over 10 years to address chronic overcrowding in NSW schools. The details are contained in a new Cabinet-in-Confidence School Assets Strategic Plan. There will be an average of $500 million a year spend

Maximum enrolments for school will increase from 640 to 1,000 for primary schools and from 1,900 to 2,000 for secondary schools.

There is also a proposal that there be a standard of 10 sq.m per student of play space. For a 1,000 student school this would equate to 10,000 sq.m of play space. To put that in context, a medium size house block is around 500 sq.m, So we would be talking about 20 house blocks (or 40 for a high school) toprovide for planned play spaces.

The government has given an undertaking that it will not increase class sizes.

37% of school are effectively completely utilized.

5% of schools (180) are over capacity.

There are suggestions that there be more joint venture between developers and councils of joint and shared school assets. An example might be a sports facility used by the community after hours and run by a not-for-profit organization.

They say that the old 60s model of a school plonked in the middle of a block of land is not going to work any more.

Growth is projected at 21% over the next 15 years. There is a projection of an additional 164,000 new students by 2031

There will be ‘modular’ classrooms instead of demountables.

The department has stated that where land value is at a premium, they will build high-rise schools rather than purchase additional land.

SOME IMPLICATIONS

There may be a number of implications of the new strategy:

• The comments relating to land value of surrounding properties would likely apply to Chatswood Public School (CPS)
• It is difficult to understand how the Department could provide 10,000 sq.m of play space for CPS students without land acquisition
• It is difficult to understand how proposed developer partnerships might work. A developer would likely only become involved with a school where there was an opportunity for development (most likely residential). So this might see the redevelopment of an existing school to high rise residential and high rise educational facilities.
• School/Council partnerships have worked successfully at CHS, WPS and Willoughby PS/WGHS. No doubt, similar arrangements could be put in place if CPS had more play space.
• The CPS site is somewhat constrained by the existence of heritage listed school buildings meaning lesson-site development potential
• How do you redevelop and existing school site such as CPS whilst maintaining an appropriate learning environment for students. MPS was fortunate, being a relatively small school (less than 500 pupils) to be able to vacate existing classroom to demountables within the school grounds whilst the new 3 storey, 1,000 student school was constructed. The same opportunity does not exist at CPS (unless there is major land acquisition).

A DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION HAS BEEN LODGED FOR THE EXTENSION OF OPERATING HOURS TO EXISTING PRE-SCHOOL CENTRE FROM 8:00AM UNTIL 3:30PM TO 8:00AM UNTIL 5PM, AND EXTEND OPERATIONAL PERIOD TO 50 WEEKS PER YEAR.

The application was widely notified to surrounding properties. Four submissions were received. The issues raised were:

• the existing centre causes traffic and parking issues,
• the children who attend the centre cause noise that disturbs neighbours,
• the activities of the children affect the serenity of Campbell Park,
• any extension to the hours of operation will aggravate an already unacceptable situation, and
• there is an oversupply of child care centres.

After considering the application and submissions, the Council Officer is recommending approval with the following conditions:

SCHEDULE OF CONDITIONS

1. Hours of Operation: The hours of operation of the child care centre are to be restricted to those times listed below, i.e.: Weekdays 8.00am to 5.00pm The use of the premises for the operation of the child care centre are restricted to weekdays for a total of 50 weeks per year. Any variation to these hours is to be subject to the prior consent of Council. (Reason: Amenity)

2. Scheduling the Collection of Children: The collection of children from the centre must be scheduled so that a maximum of ten children are scheduled for collection in any 30 minute period from 3.30pm until 5.00pm in order to avoid a peak collection period. (Reason: Traffic and Parking)

Our new exhibition at Willoughby Museum for the National Trust Heritage Festival, Artistic Voices, will be opened by Mayor Gail Giles-Gidney on Sunday 23 April at 2pm.

Curated by Terry Fogarty, it will showcase some 100 individuals who have contributed to the long and rich heritage of artistic endeavours that reflect the cultural diversity of Willoughby City. Their contributions cover a variety of artistic fields, as artists, architects, actors, writers, playwrights, poets, singers, dancers, musicians, photographers, sculptors, puppeteers, film producers or radio or television personalities. The exhibition will tell the stories of these notables through large panels and smaller profiles of their key achievements, backed by artefacts from our museum collection, both in the main exhibition room and elsewhere at the museum. We look forward to your next visit to the museum to take in this extensive exhibition with the assistance of our guides.

The museum will be open from 1pm to 4pm on Thursdays and Sundays for this exhibition from 23 April to the end of May and Sunday afternoons thereafter.