Mt Barker residents dismayed by council bulldozing kids’ treehouse, building childcare centre on a flood plain

A Hills council is accused of being out of touch after it ripped out a kids’ treehouse and approved a childcare centre on a flood plain, with long-time residents calling the plans “crazy”.

Hills residents say their local council is “completely out of touch” with their community, after tearing down a treehouse weeks after approving a childcare centre being built on a flood plain.

Mt Barker local Bill Hankin attended the recent Council Assessment Panel meeting to oppose the application to build a childcare centre at 1 Memorial Drive and 4 Bollen Rd.

The proposed land site is part of the community’s Western Flat flood plain and is near a creek, and an area which has experienced “frequent flooding” in the past.

“I’ve made a big noise about this, because the locals that have lived here a long time are saying this is crazy; we know it floods because we’ve seen it flood,” Mr Hankin told The Advertiser.

The application put forward by Development Holdings proposed a childcare centre including signage, carparking, landscaping, and associated infrastructure be built.

The centre would have 97 children in its care and about 12 staff.

Mt Barker treehouse being removed by the council to make way for a new childcare centre. Picture: Supplied

Despite opposition from three locals, including Julie Hockey on behalf of the Mt Barker and District Residents Association, the panel approved the application.

“Having undertaken an assessment of the application against the Planning and Design Code, the application is not seriously at variance with the provisions of the Planning and Design Code,” it said in its report.

“If you build a residence there, it’s your individual risk between you and the insurance, I've got no drama with it,” Mr Hankin said.

“But if you’re going to build a childcare centre which is authorised to have 97 kids, and you’re talking about one-year-olds, two-year-olds and three-year-olds, that’s kind of like rolling the dice with loaded dice; that’s kind of crazy.”

He said due to a shortage of services parents would be forced to enrol their children at the potentially dangerous site.

“That’s unfortunate because that’s what councils are there for, to ensure that places like childcare centres and schools are in safe locations where if there is a flood event … kids are going to be safe,” he said.

Ms Hockey said the residents association did not agree with the council’s decision to push forward with the childcare centre development.

“We were very much concerned about the inherent risk of flooding, because it is a known flood zone area, and of course with the continual loss of trees and vegetation across the district the area’s water is building up around those low-lying areas,” she said.

“It’s just the location, it’s sort of immediately adjacent a creek and an area which has over the years been flooded reasonably frequently.

“When that area does get flooded sometimes those access roads are closed off, so I’m not sure how they would manage that … in regard to parents getting access to the children.”

The development had to undertake a Flood Advice Report by Tonkin Consulting and Stormwater Management Plans.

It comes days after it was revealed the Mt Barker Council tore down a cubby house built by children with recycled materials after they deemed it “unsafe”.

The cubby was removed by an excavator on Wednesday after kids with the assistance of adults built the structure.

“They’re (the council is) out of touch with ordinary residents, completely out of touch,” Mr Hankin said.