Three year battle over Manly Vale Public School redevelopment set to come to an end

A BITTER three-year battle over plans to redevelop Manly Vale Public School on top of bushland will come to a head next Monday.

Manly Vale Public School is soon to lodge development plans to build a new school.

• School development plans amended to preserve bushland
• Baird backs Manly Vale Public School plans

A BITTER three-year battle over plans to redevelop Manly Vale Public School will come to a head next Monday.

The $22 million plan to cater for 1000 students at the site has been altered by the Education Department, decreasing the amount of bush removal from 0.8ha to 0.5.

But critics of the plan say none of the Manly Dam Reserve bushland should be taken away.

Manly Vale Public School has plans to build a new school.

A new push being led by a group of biologists from Sydney University has echoed calls for the school to be built up, not out.

The 10 have penned a submission to the council. It argued threatened species — powerful owl, red crowned toadlet, eastern bent-wing bat, eastern pygmy possum and grey headed flying fox — were present.

The submission argued 90 per cent of native vegetation in the eastern temperate zone of Australia was gone.

“It is time to be start treating our precious natural heritage with more respect,” it said.

The council’s report to the decision-making joint regional planning panel indicated there were far more submissions against the plans than in favour.

But advocates for the plan, like parent Stephen Hancock, say the school is overcrowded and getting worse.

Manly Vale Public School’s plans will be decided next week.

“There will be well over 500 kids there next year, that is 68 additional enrolments,” he said.

Mr Hancock pointed to the fact that there were 14 demountable classrooms and seven permanent ones.

“That is two thirds of our students in demountables, they are supposed to be for temporary overflow.”