By Esther Lauaki
Concerns over congestion around Wyndham Vale’s newest school have prompted renewed calls to duplicate Ballan Road.
Wyndham Christian College, near the Wyndham Vale Christian Centre on Ballan Road, opened for prep to grade 4 pupils in term one of this year.
The college, a sister school to Heatherton Christian College in Melbourne’s south-east, is still under construction with a new grade level, up to year 12, to be added each year.
The next stage of construction on the
$3 million project will begin in six weeks and includes six new classrooms and administration spaces to eventually accommodate 1450 students within the next eight years.
But nearby residents last week raised concerns that the expansion could worsen congestion which is already an issue along Ballan Road.
“Horrible location if you’re not planning any new access roads,” one resident wrote on Facebook. “Ballan Road is stuffed as it is and now this will cripple it.”
Another resident said traffic was “getting worse every year” and the school would contribute to the congestion already caused by Manor Lakes Central shopping centre.
College spokesman Rob Ward said it was “a roads issue, not an issue with the school’s location”.
“We haven’t added a single car to the roads … nor to the congestion that already exists.” Mr Ward said. “They are all local people who drive past the school every day.
“The impact of extra traffic from the school is only at drop-off and pick-up times.”
Mr Ward said the school’s master plan includes an access road to Wollahra Rise but the issue is the need to fully duplicate Ballan Road.
“With over 12,000 people moving into Wyndham every year and a huge new shopping centre under construction across the road, we believe we should all be lobbying government at all levels to invest in the west, including duplicating Ballan Road.”
“Regrettably we have been advised by our local MP that there are no funds available to spend on Ballan Road.”
