[Greens-Media] Community win starts to address poor planning for schools

[Jamie Parker]

COMMUNITY WIN STARTS TO ADDRESS POOR PLANNING FOR SCHOOLS - 15 December 2014
This morning's announcement that the site for a new public school in Ultimo has been secured is a significant win for the community.

"This is welcome news which goes some way to addressing the woeful lack of planning from the former NSW Labor government," said Jamie Parker, Greens MP for Balmain.

"The inner city and inner west community is experiencing a baby boom which has put relentless pressure on schools, before and after school care and child care. Families are in turn feeling the pressure of long waiting lists and uncertainty.

"This increase in demand has vindicated the community's opposition to Labor's public school fire sale in places like Erskineville, Enmore and Chippendale.

"It is a credit to the City of Sydney Council and the state government that an agreement was reached for the purchase of the Ultimo site. This will ease the anxiety for many local parents who were worried about the public school options for their young children.

"I congratulate the Inner Sydney Schools Working Group, Ultimo Public School P&C, Sydney MP Alex Greenwich and the wider community for their outstanding efforts. It was an excellent grassroots campaign that kept the pressure on the decision-makers to reach this successful outcome.

"However our work is not over. The Department of Education's own numbers demonstrate that in public primary schools in the electorate of Balmain, school enrolments will jump from 4904 in 2014  to 5023 in 2019, that is the equivalent of 27 additional classrooms. This is in the context of the majority of schools already exceeding or at maximum utilisation," said Mr Parker.


For further comment from Jamie Parker MP, contact Lesa de Leau on 0413 581 603