Child care centre developers take council to court

Planning staff at Gympie Regional Council said the proposed new child care centre was incompatible with the planning scheme

The developers behind a proposed 83-space child care centre at Sorrel St have taken Gympie council to court after it rejected the project.

GYMPIE Regional Council is being taken to court over its rejection of an 83-place child care centre near the city’s aquatic centre.

Developer Rosalind Corporate has appealed the council’s decision, asking the state’s Planning and Environment Court to overturn the rejection and give the centre a green light.

Rosalind planned to build the centre on vacant land in Sorrel St.

Not surprisingly, the proposed child care centre sparked outcry from some other Gympie child care providers, who said it would further saturate the market.

Its proposal sparked an outcry from some child care operators in the region, who said another centre would make an already saturated market worse, especially with one centre less than 200m up the road.

Fears were also raised about what traffic problems might arise at an intersection already under strain from the aquatic centre and Gympie State High School.

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Ultimately, the council’s staff said there was no need, and no relevant matters to override the centre’s incompatibility with the planning scheme.

Solicitors for the developer claim it should be approved subject to lawful conditions.

Last month, councillors voted unanimously against the centre on the back of the staff’s recommendation.

Solicitors for Rosalind Corporate disagreed with this decision, saying the centre should be approved “subject to lawful conditions” and there were relevant matters to justify it.

The appeal did not outline what those matters were.

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