My personal notes from
the P&C meeting of the Whites Hill State College, Guest Speaker Mr Steve
Minnikin MP
Mr Minnikin began by saying he apologised for the lack of
notification regarding the plans to sell the school oval. He said he and Ian
Kaye were both upset by the short notice they were given. He apologised that he
and Ian Kaye had not been able to meet at the prior nominated times due to
prior commitments, however the P&C felt that with such an important piece
of information it was extremely important to meet as soon as possible.. He
also stated that the dotted line that differentiates the Chatsworth and
Greenslopes electorates were not relevant and that he would be involved as the
member for the area the school falls in.
I shall dot point the main issues as per my recollection.
Mr Minnikin stated that
·
They were left with a $300 Million back log of
maintenance and that our school has currently approx. $750 000 worth of
maintenance required with approx. $440 000 having been spent so far.
·
He believes the sale must happen to offset the
cost of this maintenance because we are accruing $11000 per minute in interest,
a sound byte that continues to be repeated.
·
Schools are allocated 12 hectares per 1100
students and we have just under 16.2 hectares including the oval over the road
from the grounds with the buildings. This is apparently how the space required
for a school is calculated, using the comparison of battery hens per hectare,
perhaps not the best of analogies when discussing our children. No consideration
is given to the use of the oval by the Gateway District Schools for high school
sport or the Lytton District Schools for primary sport.
·
He was aware that there was some sort of
environmental/ native animal concern (The Squirrel Glider Corridor) but didn't know any details about it.
·
Mr Minnikin will lobby with Ian Kaye to secure a
small percentage of the profit from the sale of the land for the school.
*A parent raised the concern in the later general business that when
the schools merged (Camp Hill State High School and Whites Hill State Primary
School) to form Whites Hill State College, there were promises and commitments
about money that would be put into the school, then the principal was
transferred and no money was received by the school.
Question time
Mr Minnikin was asked about the budget and how millions of
dollars is allocated to Main Roads and 1% of that budget could rectify the maintenance
back log, he agreed that it appears easy like that but that there are always
different reasons for money being allocated the way it is e.g. we don’t have a
sufficient highway from Brisbane to cairns. There was a lot of talk about
budgets and how everyone wants the dollars.
He was asked when the full list of the 55 schools suggested
in the papers would be released. Mr Minnikin asked in return, “who said there
was 55 schools” and “don’t believe everything you read in the press.” He
assured the P&C that no other local primary schools were earmarked for
closure (as this was the concern of the parent asking the question, if one or
more of the other local schools were closed which has been suggested in the
past it would impact on numbers at our school).
I asked with consideration of the overland flow path of
flood waters, what could the land be sold for, for what use? He said he could
not answer that and perhaps Councillor Schrinner could help us with that
question.
I asked if Mr Minnikin if he would join Councillor Schrinner
is supporting a ‘change of heart’ on the matter as expressed as Mr Schrinners
desired outcome in a letter to me. He said he would not.
Mr Minnikin had talked about economics and how he learnt
around the kitchen table about it, our community member said that what she had
learnt in the same way was that you don’t sell off an asset today when you
could reap more from it in the future.
A member of the community asked the question about the
change in demographics in the area and the cyclical nature of young families.
She also brought attention to the higher density housing in the immediate area
and how that would impact future enrolments.
Another community member suggested that if we want to fight
this sale that we will probably lose if we only look at it from the angle of
education of the children and the school, we need to look at the wider impact
on the community and environmental factors involved.
Mr Minnikin has agreed to meet with our community
group. I will need to talk to Paul
Robertson to see if we are able to use the school facilities.
Friday evening seemed to be a good time for people as we had
a great turn out at the meeting last Friday.
I have drafted the wording for a petition against the sale
which was tabled at the meeting, but due to the procedures required by the
P&C it cannot go ahead with their name on it as they have formed a working
group to investigate further.
My proposal is to go ahead with the petition as a community
group and hope that the P&C will endorse it once they have gone through
their procedures.
One glimmer of hope I
heard was when he said that if we can show some reasons to prevent the sale, he
can look into them.
So let’s find the
reasons and let him know!
Some Great News !
I wrote a letter to Deputy Mayor Schrinner seeking his support in our fight to keep our valuable asset (the oval) and an assurance that it would remain zoned as education/recreational land.
Below is an excerpt from his response, which I am very encouraged by
"I
would be very disappointed to see the sports fields lost and I certainly
understand your concerns.
As
you would be aware, Council has had no role in the State’s proposal, nor do we
have the ability to prevent them selling State land. The only real way
that Council can affect the ultimate outcome is that a Development Application
would need to be submitted to Council prior to any changes of use of the
land.
Any
proposed future use/development on this site that does not fall within the
definition of Education Purposes would require an Impact Assessible Development
Application, including public notification and appeal rights. This means
that the community will have the opportunity to lodge formal submission on any
proposal.
Having
said this, I am sure you would agree that the ideal outcome would be a ‘change
of heart’ regarding the proposal to sell the land."
Draft Petition
We call on Premier Campbell
Newman and the Minister for Education, Training and Employment, Mr John-Paul
Langbroek to reverse the decision to sell off Whites Hill State College’s
playing fields.
These ovals are well used by the
school and the broader community. The Save Whites Hill State College Oval Community Action Group oppose this short-sighted sell off of community assets because:
- Hundreds of children use these playing fields during
school terms including the Gateway District secondary school students, the
Lytton District primary school students, as well the potential for it to
be used for physical education and science classes.
- The sale of the oval will remove potential future growth from the school and valuable space for inter/intra school sports and competitions.
- The Oval and the established trees on the grounds are part of an established Sugar Glider Corridor and selling the land compromises the Brisbane City Council’s Squirrel Glider Corridor Action Plan for Bulimba Creek Catchment Areas (Jones, Chambers, Canaris and Ingram: 2007).
- The Oval has an overland flood path through the centre of it and any potential development of the land would impact on neighbouring properties in flood and rain events, impact greatly on the traffic in the area causing safety issues for children accessing the school and construction noise would impact negatively on the students learning and potential enrolments into the future.
- The sale contradicts the Brisbane City Council’s Draft City Plan for green space and the 2026 vision
Help us save the Whites Hill State
College ovals!
I would like to get this up this weekend.
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