By Jim Mynard
TIMBARRA residents will rally in the Timbarra Primary School Hall at 7.30pm on Monday 31 July in a last ditch effort to save public owned land from housing development.
Timbarra Residents Association president Brian Miller said the land had become the centre of discussion between resident groups, the City of Casey and the state and federal governments.
He said the large parcel of land adjoined the Timbarra Primary School and was originally reserved for a secondary school.
“Despite a severe and worsening shortage of secondary schools in the Casey north area, successive state governments have steadfastly refused to build the proposed school.”
Mr Miller said the land had also been subject to many reviews and planning studies during the past five years, but declared surplus and available to the highest bidder.
“The City of Casey has committed to the purchase of a portion of the site for an indoor sports facility and upgraded football oval, but the rest will be up for grabs.
“Extensive studies and reviews of facilities consistently found the area is deficient in public sporting facilities.
“When combined with the fact that Casey has the highest population of children under four we can see the situation will worsen.
“The Timbarra Residents Association in conjunction with major sport associations has lobbied all levels of government to take responsibility for the provision of adequate sporting and education facilities.
“To this end we have organised a petition to the government and this public rally to highlight the issue and show community support in our area.
“This will be the last chance to save this land,” he said.