Tuesday, 20 June 2023

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:58): (241) My question is to the Minister for Planning. Locals and I want to meet and get advice regarding the proposed $2.9 million early childhood education facility for 110 children at 154 Drysdale Avenue, Narre Warren North, in the Highgrange estate. Residents fear Drysdale Avenue has minimal on-street parking, with an intersecting single-lane carriageway to the busy Belgrave-Hallam Road. It is not safe for the additional traffic congestion the centre would attract. Residents call it an accident waiting to happen. Drysdale Avenue has one-lane traffic each way and is the only entrance and exit point for the estate. Casey council is reviewing the plans. No decision has been finalised. Thirty-one objections have been submitted to the council so far. A development plan overlay, DPO, exists, so submitters will not have appeal rights should the application be approved. With excessive amounts of childcare centres in the area and an estimated 400 children aged zero to four years, will this government stop a tick-the-box exercise to support their locals?