Schools’ concerns dusted over BY Wendy Bacon Sydney Motorway Corporation (SMC) consultants have finally acknowledged that air pollution has been significantly worse this year at St Peters School than at nearby NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) monitors at Earlwood, Chullora and Rozelle. This fresh information comes from the latest SMC report about an air quality monitor that has been at St Peters School since 2015. The SMC Air quality report for August notes “PM2.5 and PM10 data for St Peters School site is consistently elevated compared with OEH stations nearby; this is suggested to be contribution from nearby construction activity.”
into a special bag because they were worried that WestConnex would come and take their home too.” She described the dilemmas confronting parents, some of whom have no choice but send their children to the school, which is otherwise highly regarded. Some parents fear that if they speak out about the impacts of WestConnex, even more families will turn away from school, which they are told could threaten its very existence. Dr Kilham said streams of Facebook discussions revealed prospective parents are reluctant to send their children to St Peter’s Primary School “based 100% on WestConnex and air pollution”.
St Peters children at anti-WestConnex workshop with author Nadia Wheatley before demolition began. Photo: Lorrie Graham
There is scientific evidence that PM is linked to lung and heart disease and cancer and can be particularly damaging to young children. On August 3, the PM 10 and PM 2.5 exceeded national daily limits at St Peters. The report notes that high levels were not recorded elsewhere, and exceedance was likely due to construction activity. The St Peters community were not informed. The Environmental Impact Statement that was used by NSW Planning to support its approval for the WestConnex Stage 2 St Peters interchange stated it was unlikely that there would be any significant impacts on air quality during construction and any impact that occured would be temporary and mitigated. This news will only further exacerbate the stress and concern of St Peters Public School community members who last week gave evidence at the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Impacts of WestConnex. St Peters School Parents and Citizens WestConnex committee was represented by Dr Sarina Kilham. Parents and children from St Peters attended the session along with parents from Rozelle and on the North Shore, all of whom fear the impacts of proposed WestConnex Rozelle Interchange and the Western Harbour Tunnel. Dr Kilham’s two children are among 180 attending St Peters Public School and Preschool. There is also a playgroup for younger children. Access to the school, in either car or on foot, is via a WestConnex worksites. Dr Kilham told the Inquiry that the school’s experience with WestConnex had been “overwhelmingly negative” and a “slow ripping apart of our community.” “From the early days of demolition when children from our school lost their homes and friends were forced to move away, the social and emotional impact on the children who have left and the children who are left behind has been very profound,” Dr Kilham told the Inquiry. “I have heard stories of five- year-olds packing their toys
“It leaves those of us with children at St Peters Public School wondering if we have done, and indeed if we are doing, the right thing by our children,” said Dr Kilham. In 2017, there was several months of severe odours caused by leachate gas which floated across the school. Dr Kilham told the Inquiry that during this period when the gas was bad, the principal kept the children indoors. On some occasions, Dr Kilham withdrew her daughter from the school and left the suburb for the whole day. “I was not going to send her to school with leachate gas going through the school,” she said. Her 1875 “little terrace house” also would not protect against the gas. In 2015, SMC promised to supply the school with the air quality data but never did so. “The point is that at the moment we do not have a choice about what we do because we do not have the data,” she told the Inquiry. Although she acknowledged that there was no scientific evidence that the pollution was causing illness, she described “anecdotes of children having more frequent asthma attacks, of children who did not previously have asthma starting to have asthma. We are having parents talk about children being diagnosed with dust allergies and coming home from school itchy,” Dr Kilhem told the Inquiry. This accords with evidence given by Haberfield School parents earlier in the Inquiry. City Hub has previously reported a case of a three-year-old child at St Peter’s preschool who has had pneumonia twice. The New M5 tunnel will open in 2020 but if Stage 3 goes ahead there will be nearly three more years construction at St Peters, though it will not be as close to the school as Stage 2 construction. After the massive interchange opens, more traffic will pass less than a block from the school and two unfiltered ventilations stacks will operate less than 500 metres in different directions.
On foot or by bike – immerse yourself in a night of light, entertainment and some Halloween surprises. The Domain 6pm to 11pm
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city hub 25 OCTOBER 2018
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