City of Launceston aldermen voted to approve the development eight votes to four at Monday’s council meeting, after community members raised concerns about the loss of amenity and green space, and traffic congestion.

The development will be on the western side of Oxford Street and will include a small car park. 

School principal Emmy Brient told the council the building would be a state-of-the-art facility, and help to manage the school’s issues with overcrowding, while creating better learning outcomes.

She said the total number of students at the school would not increase, but be redistributed across the site.

“It will not impact on the green space currently owned by the [Parents and Friends Association],” she said.

Compromises were made during the planning, she said, with the original aim to have six classrooms.

“A great amount of the public funding is going into making the building invisible … [and] there should not be additional traffic because we are not attracting additional students,” Mrs Brient said.

Resident Stewart Smith said the relationship between the school and the community had been “fractured” by the process.  

He, and eight other residents, spoke against the development, saying the loss of the green space and traffic issues would change the nature of the area.

Alderman Janie Finlay raised concerns about the setback distance, which was the only area of discretion the council had when acting as a planning authority. 

She authored an alternate motion, seeking to refuse the development application on the grounds that the building would not be compatible with the streetscape.

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The motion was supported by aldermen Ted Sands, Robin McKendrick and Rob Soward.

When that failed she attempted to move an amendment, seeking to limit the number of children in the kindergarten area to 80, as per the development application, but did not gather any support.

Speaking for the development, Alderman Hugh Mckenzie said while the building would not be setback the required eight metres, it was going to be lowered and dug into the bank, making it less visible from the road.

While the green space being development had been adopted by the community, it was ultimately owned by the government who had the right to build on it, he said.

A land swap between the Parents and Friends Association and Department of Education for the remaining green space will now be negotiated.