Toowoomba Anglican School approved for new expansion on Wirra Wirra Street at special council meeting despite opposition

An elite Toowoomba school has the green light to build a new two-storey building with classrooms, a cafe, change rooms and a grandstand. But the proposal has been slammed by nearby residents.

An elite Toowoomba private school has been given the green light for a significant campus expansion, despite fierce opposition from neighbours who called it “unreasonable” and “poor planning”.

Toowoomba Anglican School was approved at a special council meeting on Wednesday to build a two-storey building called “Gill House” along Wirra Wirra Street in East Toowoomba.

Part of the land in question is currently occupied by a post-WWII house, which is slated for demolition.

The proposed facility, which adjoins the nearby tennis courts run by TAS, includes classroom, change rooms and offices.

Toowoomba Anglican School has been approved for its planned two-storey expansion along Wirra Wirra Street in East Toowoomba, called Gill House, which adjoins the neighbouring tennis courts.

Toowoomba council planning officer Jayden Forbes-Mitchell told councillors at the meeting the proposal also included “tiered seating” for up to 90 tennis spectators.

“The building design incorporates a split-skillion roofline and uses a mix of external wall cladding materials including face-brick, fibre cement sheeting and colorbond sheeting with vertical perforated sheet metal blades and vertical screen battens on the front eastern elevation,” he wrote in his assessment report.

“The Gill House building will contain a fitness room, three general learning areas, change rooms, amenities, offices and a cafe counter and outdoor learning area.

Tiered seating is also provided on the southern side of the building overlooking the outdoor courts.”

Toowoomba Anglican School has been approved for its planned two-storey expansion along Wirra Wirra Street in East Toowoomba, called Gill House, which adjoins the neighbouring tennis courts.

But the planned expansion has been slammed by neighbours, with 11 submissions made by residents against the proposal.

Addressing councillors, homeowner Emma Piovesan said the project was inconsistent with the low-density zoning that partially covered the site and would have significant noise, amenity, parking and traffic impacts.

She also took issue with the grandstand proposal.

“It is not the responsibility of the community to deal with the impacts of this proposal, due to the school’s poor planning and disregard for the community and their own students,” she said.

“I reached out to TAS about the prospect of having a grandstand seating 90 in my backyard, (but) my concerns were disregarded.

“The community is committed to opposing the expansion of the school.”

Ms Piovesan also made a number of allegations outside the scope of the development application, such as TAS’ enrolment growth over the past decade and alleged failure to manage traffic during peak school hours.

“We were told in 2013 that the school would be capped at 650 for K-12 students, and they had capacity (on the existing campus),” she said.

“In the 2022 year book, the school said their population had increased by more than 120 students (since the previous year).”

In response to concerns, Precinct Urban Planning’s Paul Kelly told councillors the building had been designed to shield noise from the grandstand and direct it towards a property to the south that was owned by the school.

“It is a signature project for the school and one they’ve put a lot of thought and planning into, it’s not lightly considered,” he said.

“The building does adjoin several houses and it does come into the existing outdoor sports area.

“With the use of the tiered seating, the building has been designed to act as an acoustic shroud.”

While concerns were raised by councillors around parking allocation and the project’s compliance with street’s neighbourhood character overlay, the majority of the six councillors present voted to endorse Mr Forbes-Mitchell’s recommendation for approval.

Acting chair Bill Cahill and councillor Carol Taylor were the only dissenters.

Five councillors were either absent or required to leave the room due to perceived or potential conflicts of interest with TAS.