Community blocks Anglican Church application for ECEC service

An early childhood education and care (ECEC) development application concerning the redevelopment of St Luke’s Anglican Church in Deakin, in the Australian Capital Territory, has met with opposition from the local community, with residents saying the development is too big, and likely to cause ‘traffic chaos’.

The Deakin Residents Association submitted a response to the development application, with president John Bell calling for the 120-place service to be scaled back.

“A smaller-scale development with a reduced footprint of the buildings on the block would provide a healthier environment for the children, reduce the traffic-parking problem, and would not cause such a large disruptive incursion into this peaceful residential suburb,” Mr Bell said.

He also outlined his concerns about parking, saying this is already an issue in Deakin’s narrow streets, which he believes “are not designed to carry the morning and afternoon peaks of traffic” that the proposed ECEC service will contribute to.

As well as the ECEC service, the $6.4 million proposal also includes two, four-bedroom, two-storey townhouses with courtyards and garages to accommodate church workers.

Comment on the DA closed on 10 December. For more information about this story, please see here.