Warriewood co-educational high school Mater Maria Catholic College has submitted an application to increase the student population by at least 30 per cent.
In the last five years, Mater Maria Catholic College has had over 850 students and has seen an increasing demand from parents who want to send their children to the famous Northern Beaches school. It is the only Catholic co-education high school in the Northern Beaches.
In 2021, the school’s enrolment was 1040, above the approved maximum student number. Thus, Mater Maria Catholic College lodged DA2021/2083 for “a flexible condition for enrolment capacity” without expanding the school facilities.
“The College has recently completed major works within the campus and does not anticipate any significant capital projects in the next 5 years,” the application stated. “Based on the existing facilities on site, the College has the capacity to accommodate up to 1100 students in current facilities and allows for an approximate 10 per cent fluctuation.”
Concerns like traffic, parking, rubbish collection, and emergency evacuation were raised during the public consultation.
“During school term there is no public parking available in any surrounding streets due to students parking all day, even in the four-hour limited parking which the Council does NOT police,” one resident submitted.
“Emergency vehicles would have no chance of entering the streets as the parking is too close to the corners and intersections of the narrow streets. In an emergency either at the school or surrounding area, the result could be catastrophic if people can’t evacuate efficiently and quickly, this would not be the case as it stands at the moment.”
However, a review of the Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA), the Emergency Management Plan and the Bushfire Evacuation Plan by Council’s Traffic Engineering and TfNS presented no objections to the increase in student numbers. Currently, the off-street parking space’s occupancy rate is at 85 percent.
Northern Beaches Local Planning Panel has yet to approve the development application despite the assessment report’s recommendation to approve the plans.
