Castle Hill Showground school plans spark year long stalemate with Education, Treasury
The NSW government has sat on negotiations to acquire land for a school in a residential precinct in Sydney’s northwest – despite doubling the number of homes to be built in the suburb to 9000.
NSW
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The NSW Government has sat on negotiations to acquire land to build a school at the heart of a massive residential precinct in Sydney’s northwest – despite doubling the number of homes to be built in the suburb.
NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully lifted the cap on the number of homes that can be built in the Castle Hill Showground precinct, “allowing the delivery of approximately 9,000 total homes within the precinct” in September last year.
The number of homes was previously capped at 4500 due to a lack of infrastructure, including a school within the precinct.
However, The Daily Telegraph can reveal The Education Department and NSW Treasury have been locked in a stalemate over the allocation of funding for the school, with cash expected to have been signed off in February and announced in the last state budget.
Landholders were told by the department in December, February and April that an “high priority” agreement to acquire the site for the much needed school was just “weeks” away.
However, 12 months on and there has been no deal struck.
The Telegraph has obtained Education Infrastructure concept plans for a three-storey “Castle Hill Showground Public School” off Dawes Ave, Fishburn and Cadman crescents, Castle Hill.
Education Minister Prue Car said the government was “committed to ensuring families in Sydney’s growth areas have the essential services they need, like quality local public schools”.
Meanwhile, the Education Department said it was “delivering the school facilities that growing communities like Castle Hill need, including major expansions of Castle Hill Public School and Matthew Pearce Public School, which are currently in construction”.
“The department is continuing to plan additional capacity in growth areas across northwest Sydney in response to the findings of the Enrolment Growth Audit, which showed that school infrastructure had not kept up with population growth.”
A limit of 5000 homes was imposed on the Showground precinct in 2017 “to ensure growth aligned with infrastructure”.
However, the dwelling cap was subsequently removed in September 2023.
It is understood the NSW Government lifted the cap due to transport upgrades being completed.
But at the time of the removal of the cap, NSW Planning said in a statement it would “work with School Infrastructure NSW to plan for schools in the area”.
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