Traffic problems and the loss of agricultural land were he main reasons council staff recommended saying no to he school.
In its submission, Camden police said the development had a ‘‘high’’ traffic risk assessment rating, although no detail was given about the evaluation process.
‘‘Police have a real apprehension that the increase in traffic flow is going to have a higher risk of major traffic collisions and increase of traffic offences in/or near the location,’’ the submission said.
In a letter faxed to the council last Friday, the RTA said it reviewed the school application and ‘‘raises no objections to the proposed development’’.
But the fax included 18 ‘‘comments’’ for the council to consider when making a decision on the school plans including its preference for phasing of the traffic lights at the Cawdor and Burragorang roads intersection and the need for more details on pedestrian facilities in the school.
Busways was invited to comment on the school plans and said the bus rank length was too short meaning the last bus could block access to the school grounds.
‘‘This staggering of [class starting and finishing] times, coupled with the proposed school’s relative remoteness provide for a complicated if not impossible situation to manage from a student transport perspective,’’ the Busways submission said.
The Department of Primary Industries submission, seen by the Advertiser, said the proposal encroached on rural resource lands contrary to the State Government’s Metropolitan Strategy.
It said the development ‘‘removes a valuable resource for agricultural production’’ and it would restrict the type of primary industry development in the area and promote further urban settlement.
The Quranic Society wanted to build the school on what is known as agricultural land class two.
Classes one, two and three are considered to be high-class land with classes one and two being suited to continuous cultivation for market gardening and class three suitable for grazing.
Sue Morris, the council’s director of development and environment, said it was normal to refer development applications ‘‘for an activity in rural land’’ to the department for comment.
‘‘The Metropolitan Strategy and Draft South West Subregional Strategy identified the importance of those rural lands [in the Cawdor Valley] given that we’re losing a lot of our market gardens [in the South West Growth Centre],’’ she said.
Asked if the council would refer all future development applications in the Cawdor Valley to the department, Ms Morris it would ‘‘for non-agricultural activity’’.
‘‘I would imagine they would have similar concerns,’’ she said.
Camden High School is 600 metres from the proposed school site.
In a 1998 report, obtained by the Advertiser, council staff said the Camden High School development satisfied the objectives of the rural zoning.
Camden High School and the Islamic school sit in the same zone but one reason council staff recommended
refusing the Islamic school was that it was ‘‘not consistent with the objectives of the zone’’.
The high school also sits on agricultural land class three which, like the Islamic school site, is considered ‘‘high-class land’’.
Ms Morris said Camden High School was a State Government development application that council
could not refuse without the minister’s consent.
‘‘That was before all these later policies [the Metropolitan
Strategy and Draft South West Subregional Strategy],’’ she said. ‘‘Whilst I accept there are some similarities, the Camden High School site is a better site in terms of access and vision.’’
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter