‘Houses going up everywhere’: Fears for Brighton as municipality experiences extreme growth

There are fears services in one Tasmanian suburb may not be able to keep up as housing developments stack up and waiting lists buckle at local childcare centres and medical clinics. LATEST >>

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THERE are fears services in Brighton may not be able to keep up, as the municipality goes through a period of growth.

The Discovery Early Learning Centre at Green Point is one service which has felt the effects of more families moving to the area.

Assistant director Bek Hill said demand has skyrocketed.

“Our waitlists are astronomical,” Ms Hill said.

“We are getting enrolments every day, phone calls every day from families with 4-5 children needing care.

The struggle to keep up with demand is despite having already expanded a year ago.

“We opened this building about 12 months ago but we used to have a smaller business on Gunn Street that was only placed for about 60 children” Ms Hill said.

“Now we’re licensed for 130.

“Even in 12 months, we’ve seen our numbers double – more than double!”

Discovery Early Leaning Centre assistant director Bek Hill and Izzy Gibson 4 at Green Point. Picture: Chris Kidd

To keep up, there are plans to expand once again.

“We purchased the block of land next door, to build another room because we can’t keep up with the demand,” director Kellie Bruce said.

“Hopefully, they’ll be done by 2023, it will provide 40 more places.”

Ms Hill said the demand on childcare comes as more families choose to live in Brighton.

“We’ve seen so many more housing developments happening, subdivisions down in Old Beach and newer subdivisions even out in Tea Tree or the back of Midway Point in Penna,” Ms Hill said.

“The more people are seeing that the more people are wanting to come out, especially the first home buyers and families that need that more affordable housing situation.”

Ms Bruce believed it wasn’t just those in Brighton relying on the municipality’s services.

“It’s also a drawcard for families that live in the Midlands, they may not have to go all the way to Glenorchy to access all the services, they can just stop at Bridgewater,” Ms Bruce said.

“Bridgewater has all the services families need and families that don’t have transport can still access Centrelink, can still access Service Tasmania.

“There’s also lots of programs for young families and a lot of support for young families.”

Creator of the Bridgewater Gagebrook social page Mr Bartlett said the Brighton municipality was experiencing rapid growth and that there wasn’t enough services for those in the community.

Photo of the main street of Brighton for Sold on Real Estate guide.

“There’s houses going up everywhere, which is needed but no one’s considered the extra businesses or services that’s needed for a growing community,” he said.

“We’ve got a few takeaways, we’ve got a few service stations we’ve got a few shops, we need more.”

Earlier this month, two doctors at the Greenpoint Medical Centre in Bridgewater announced their resignation.

It came just weeks after the resignation of two long serving GPs at the Brighton Doctors Surgery.

Mr Bartlett said more services would be needed to keep up with demand.

“We’ve also got no one out here to deal with mental health side of things,” Mr Bartlett said.