By Luke Voogt
Grovedale residents are set for a legal showdown over a childcare centre they have described as unsafe and unnecessary.
Nearby resident and grandfather John Raven was one of 35 objectors to the proposal before Geelong’s council decided to deny a planning permit on 1 May.
“It isn’t suited to the area nor is it needed for the local community,” the 73-year-old told the Indy.
“Local residents are outraged to think that (another) centre might be built in Pioneer Road Grovedale.
“Fears are held for the safety of children and parents should this proposal go ahead.”
Residents will face the companies behind the proposal in Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on 17 September, following a preliminary hearing on 3 August.
Mr Raven described the proposed childcare centre on an already busy road as a recipe for disaster.
Another objector counted 1,265 vehicles on the road between 7.30am and 9am, and 1778 between 4.30pm and 6pm.
“Everybody in that area is retired or that sort of age,” Mr Raven said.
“Pioneer Road residents already find it difficult to enter traffic when reversing from their driveways for fear of causing accidents.”
On 25 July, a car ploughed into power pole and a residential property fence, closing the road and leaving 400 homes without power for almost half a day, Mr Raven said.
“There have been a number of accidents on the eastern end over the last eight months and Pioneer Road residents report hearing the screeching of brakes as near misses occur frequently.”
Even young families in the area had objected to the proposal with nearby childcare centres at 40 to 70 per cent capacity, Mr Raven said
“We’ve had feedback from some of the nearby day cares and on every website I’ve looked at they’re advertising vacancies.”
Mr Raven said there were enough childcare centres in the area and any new centre should be located in Armstrong Creek, where population was booming.
The centre could also affect property values for existing residents, he said.
“They bought their properties thinking this is going to be a residential street – if this goes ahead they’ll move.”
South Barwon MP Andrew Katos collected 700 signatures against the project recently and called for Planning Minister Richard Wynne to intervene.
Mr Katos said the petition was one of the largest he had seen for a project of this size.
“Even I was quite surprised at the number of people – 700 signatures is pretty large amount no matter what it is.
“I’m happy to go into bat for that community.”
The owner of the proposal site, ARR Property, and project architect Kalliopi Vakras declined to comment.
“As this project is at VCAT it is not appropriate for either party, including the objectors, to be commenting to the media,” Ms Vakras said.
