The deputy premier has given a private school in Brisbane’s east the green light to cut down koala habitat for sporting ovals after the plan was knocked back by the local council.
Redland City Council denied a similar application from Ormiston College to add an oval and a slew of buildings around the campus in 2021, but the school took new plans directly to the state government in April last year.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie, who is also the planning minister, approved the plan on Tuesday through a Ministerial Infrastructure Designation. The approval will come into effect once it is officially gazetted, likely on Friday.
During the MID process, the council – which has a koala-shaped logo – sent a letter to Bleijie questioning the school’s ecological report, which said only trees used sparingly by the marsupials would need to be cut down.
However, the report, which was submitted with the school’s plans, said a third of the koala habitat would need to go.
“It should also be noted that clearing will occur in areas of the site where low level [transitory] koala activity was recorded,” it said.
Citizen scientists have logged 23 koala sightings on the block – on the corner of Dundas and Delancey streets – in the past year, and many more within a 1-kilometre radius.
In his decision, Bleijie said the school would need to “retain existing mature vegetation unless it was required to be removed to facilitate the proposed development or it can be demonstrated that the trees pose an unacceptable safety risk”.
Plans submitted by the school show a chunk of core koala habitat will need to be cut down for a group of three junior ovals in the south-east corner of the campus.
The college costs between $13,000 and $18,000 a year, and is known for its sporting prowess, but the plans for the ovals have sparked strong criticism from the surrounding community and environmentalists.
The government received hundreds of submissions from the public about the MID, the majority of which were against the school’s expansion, and protesters gathered outside the school and Parliament House in the months leading up to the decision, asking for Bleijie to deny the application.
Ormiston College and the deputy premier have been contacted for comment.
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