Devonport City Council agrees to hand over land for new North West Support School to be built on

A council has agreed to hand over land to the education department to build a brand new support school. Find out where the new school campus will go.

North West Support School Devonport campus. Picture: Supplied.

The Devonport City Council has agreed to provide “in-principle” support to hand over land owned by the municipality to the education department so it can build a new North West Support School (NWSS) campus.

In October, the state government announced that 3-9 Mersey Main Road at Spreyton was its preferred site for the new campus.

The site is home to the Devon Netball Association, which is set to move to the Devonport Sports Precinct once complete and is also right next to the Spreyton Primary School.

The Devonport campus of the NWSS is currently around 2km away on Middle Road.

In 2023, the government said it planned to close the support school’s Burnie and Devonport campuses and develop a single site at Penguin.

However, that plan was abandoned after the parents of students disapproved of the single-campus model.

Instead, the Burnie campus will be upgraded, while the Devonport site will be shut down and relocated.

North West Support School Burnie campus. Picture: Supplied.

Devonport councillors unanimously agreed to give the land at Spreyton to the Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP) so that it could develop a new NWSS campus.

However, councillors still raised some concerns about the project.

“I’m really concerned about the turning circle, which has been essential for the Spreyton school community; picking up and dropping off students,” Councillor Gerard Enniss said.

“I’m not a planner but I would think that they would just leave the turning circle there and use it.”

Councillor Leigh Murphy said he agreed with Mr Enniss’ concerns.

“I think there is a significant opportunity for council moving forward to engage with DECYP to actually have a look at some of the traffic management issues that we have in and around Mersey Main Road and Spreyton Primary School,” Mr Murphy said.

“It is a site they have determined meets their needs.

“However, it does do put some pressure on council with respect to getting our sporting precinct completed down at the Bluff for the transition for the Devon Netball Association to relocate.”

The state government has allocated $65m to build the new NWSS campus in Devonport and upgrade the Burnie site.