Williams Landing residents have called on Wyndham council to allow more than half of the land earmarked for a $5.7 million sports precinct to be used for a new school.
A recent Star Weekly article about Williams Landing Boulevard Reserve attracted a flood of comments from residents, who overwhelmingly want the council to abandon the project entirely or give up half the land for a primary or secondary school.
The reserve is due to be opened later this year.
Resident Elisa said the project, including two sports ovals, was “unnecessary and absurd”.
“Considering the community is in dire need of a school, I don’t understand why the land could not have been a shared space to incorporate both,” she said.
Kate added: “I think it’s quite clear that the people who actually live in the community would rather have a school … sporting grounds are a great addition, but schools are a necessity.”
Wyndham council chief executive Kelly Grigsby stressed that the planning and construction of schools was a state government responsibility.
“With the rate of residential development occurring in Wyndham, a new primary school needs to be built every year and a new secondary college every three to four years,” Ms Grigsby said.
“While we can appreciate that some residents would like to see the land earmarked for the Williams Landing reserve used for a school, we need to ensure that council is meeting its responsibility of providing communities with access to adequate open space.
“We would like to see a pipeline of funding allocated to growth areas such as Wyndham to ensure schools can be constructed to coincide with demand.”
