Haileybury College mass expansion permitted by state government

One of Victoria’s most elite private schools has been permitted to expand following a controversial VCAT ruling.

Victoria’s biggest school has been given the green light to grow even larger, thanks to a controversial new VCAT decision.

Senior student numbers at Haileybury College will be free to balloon from 250 to 480 at the landlocked Brighton campus, despite a lack of parking controls.

Staff numbers will also grow by 24 to nearly 100 in the next five or more years.

Residents say it sets a dangerous precedent for some of the biggest schools, allowing them to ignore traffic, heritage, local character and parking restrictions.

Haileybury College has been permitted to expand further. Picture: Valeriu Campan

The decision comes amid a national growth in private school numbers of 14 per cent compared to 4.8 per cent Catholic and 0.7 per cent public in 2023.

Haileybury has 4689 students across multiple campuses – up from 3927 in 2018.

The new ruling, supported by Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny, cancels three previous VCAT planning permits and makes the way for a new 18m, three-storey $50m creative arts centre which will hold up to 700 students.

There is also a new gymnasium in the middle school at Imbros St and the expansion of the early learning campus at Villeroy St.

A number of historic homes and established trees in Brighton East will be removed to make way for the school’s expansion on the site.

The cancellation of the existing permits were opposed by Bayside Council.

Concerns from the council centred around carparking, building and works, traffic flows, landscaping, drainage and stormwater management.

The council told VCAT there needed to be a ”baseline position on staff and student numbers” and that the cancellation of the earlier permits was premature, “vague and uncertain, and ultimately enforceable”.

Haileybury College

VCAT has defended its decision. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Ms Kilkenny supported the school in submissions to VCAT, arguing that the new permit will result in a “proper and orderly planning outcome”.

The VCAT ruling noted that growth in staff numbers are accommodated by an increase in 52 parking spaces at the new creative arts centre, but it removes student caps that are standard at many private schools.

VCAT member Judith Perlstein ruled the new permit was a “sensible approach … facilitating the desired expansion to the campus in a manner that will avoid confusion and provide certainty for the future”.

She said “the number of additional students able to be absorbed by the school is confined by the physical circumstances”.

Gary Crocker, co-chair of the Respect Castlefield Residents Group, said Ms Kilkenny ignored the objections of around 220 residents, as well as Bayside Council.

“She has disrespected us and overlooked our clear objections about traffic flows and safety, loss of heritage and loss of amenity,” he said.

“If it’s happening here it could happen anywhere else,” Mr Crocker said.

“VCAT also overturned its own previous decisions at the behest of the minister.”

Under changes to planning laws in 2019, the government can grant fast-track approval for developments at private schools.

In 2023, Ms Kilenny allowed developments at Mentone Grammar, Firbank Grammar, Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar, Ivanhoe Grammar and Geelong Grammar, among dozens of others.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport and Planning said the permit “includes measures to ensure appropriate traffic and car parking management for the school, including increased on-site car parking for staff, new dedicated drop-off and pick up zones within the campus, and a requirement that additional car parking spaces be provided for any future staff”.

Bayside City Council mayor Fiona Stitfold said the council was “concerned with VCAT’s order for council to cancel several historical planning permits on the Haileybury College campus”.

“Council remains concerned that the perspectives of our community are increasingly removed from planning decisions; this is particularly important for private schools in residential areas,” she said.

The school declined to comment.