Decision on relocation of Tamar Valley Steiner School to St Leonards Road pushed back two weeks

A number of residents spoke against the proposal at this week’s council meeting.

The steiner school, currently with 67 students in Station Road, St Leonards, plans to move about 700 metres away to 368 and 378A St Leonards Road, incorporating an existing house.

The school will be several hundred metres from St Leonards Primary School on the same road, and the relocation will be staged over several years.

There will be no frontage onto the road, but two access roads, one of which will remain four metres wide.

St Leonards Road resident Maureen Ridgley said the road was becoming increasingly busy and would pose a safety risk for children.

She said log trucks, school buses and other heavy vehicles regularly used the route.

One submission made on behalf of local resident Darren Woodward spoke of the heavy fog in the area that remains throughout the day in winter, heightening an already dangerous road.

“As a long-term resident professional heavy combination truck driver, I can’t for the life of me understand why any councillor or council would support a fourth school so close to the other on such a busy, dangerous road in such heavy traffic,” his submission read.

GHD principle planner John Ayres, who developed the proposal, said the access was “safe and appropriate”.

Steiner school parent Ben Marquis said a traffic engineers’ report found the road would be safe and efficient, and “ticks the performance criteria”.

“If there’s one group that wants this proposal to be safe moreso than the traffic engineers, it’s probably going to be the school board and the parents who are going to send their kids there,” he said.

The school will have a maximum of 102 students and 12 staff, but objectors were concerned this would increase in the future, bringing more traffic to the area. The school started in French Street and has continued to grow since moving to St Leonards.

Any move to increase the capacity of the school would need to be voted on by council, the meeting was told. Widening the access road was also not included in the report.

The principal of St Leonards Primary School also spoke with councillors about existing safety concerns on St Leonards Road.

Cr Jim Cox said he felt like he was “in an episode of Futurama” because some decisions in regards to the development appeared to be put off to the future.

“We’re talking about widening the road, we’re talking about changing the footpath, we’re talking about altering the driveway. Everything is into the future,” he said.

“There will be some vehicle parking up in the car park, how many? Not sure. How many students? Not sure. Will all of the parents park up at the car park? Will some of them park up at the road?”

Cr Rob Soward said questions around safety needed to be resolved before the proposal could be approved.

“The existing school is having issues around safety with the volume of trucks and vehicle movement through that area,” he said.

“With safety in mind for me, I’m thinking if we put another school nearby, where there is an issue with safety, that issue with safety is not going to go away, in fact it’s going to get worse because there are more movements.”

A decision was delayed two weeks so the council could receive more information on widening the driveway, future enrolment, full school relocation, and whether a 40 km/h school zone could be implemented.