Dubbo parents seeking much-needed (and relatively scarce) child care positions will not be happy that 32 spots were turned down by the Western Plains Regional Council because of car parking issues.
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The Orana Gardens Child Care Centre wanted to take on 32 more children, according to an application to the council on Wednesday.
The council turned it down after officials said the extension would be an over-development, would not match off-street parking requirements and would have “detrimental impacts” on the area. It would increase traffic, which would be “inappropriate for a residential street”.
The centre provided a traffic management plan which it said was up to the council to enforce. That was knocked back as “inappropriate”. There should be no impositions on the council.
One resident said it was not safe to expect nearby streets to accommodate the parking, which was the centre’s responsibility.
Parking spots and traffic won the day over child care and the needs of parents.
Most child care centres are in residential areas and, in recent memory, there have been few issues over parking or traffic flow.
It was not explained how parked cars posed a safety concern.
Road traffic numbers increase all the time. Would 32 extra children mean 32 extra cars looking for parking? They might be there for a few minutes at peak times for drop-offs and pick-ups but not 24/7.
Child care centres operate mostly in office hours, when one would imagine local streets have emptied of parked cars as residents head to work.
While the council has rules and regulations to avoid the development of serious problems, comments by one official about impositions on council might point to another reason the centre’s application was seen as a problem.
The council may have had to spend money managing the traffic and parking issue. Clearly, that is something it would not wish to do.
But, it is hard to believe the task would have been massive. Cars delivering children to care are not likely to do so at high speed. The streets are not going to be clogged like city roads at rush hour.
It would be a pity to deny children child care and parents the opportunity to get some part-time work because it was inconvenient.