MAY 26, 2020 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
(Damjan Janevski) 208904_04
Students back in class Adrian Mois never thought he’d be excited to be walking into school, but as he and his twin brother Benjamin walked through the gates of Caroline Chisholm Catholic College this morning, that was the overwhelming emotion. Since the beginning of term two, most children across the state have been learning remotely in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19. But from today, all prep, grade one and grade two pupils, specialist school students, as well as VCE and VCAL students, will return to on-site learning at government schools. Students from year 3 to 10 will continue to learn remotely until June 9. Adrian said the prospect of returning to the classroom was something he’s been looking forward to. “It’s been eight weeks so it’ll be great to see everyone and talk to my friends.” Adrian said the transition to remote learning was a relatively smooth one. “It’s been different. It wasn’t bad going onto online classrooms, but everyone misses the physical classroom … the environment, the people, everything.” Tate Papworth
BENJAMIN AND ADRIAN MOIS
Brimbank’s building boom By Tate Papworth Planning and development is booming in Brimbank. In April, the council received 63 new planning permit applications with a development value of $65.9 million, double the $32.1 million in applications received in April last year. he council also made 96 planning determinations and 22 subdivision determinations in April, in the midst of a global pandemic. Cr Bruce Lancashire said it was a terriic outcome for Brimbank.
“It gives me great conidence for the future, in that a pipeline of work in Brimbank has doubled,” Cr Lancashire said. “his is an amazing result given the circumstances … I wonder how we compare to other local government areas?” However some councillors had concerns. Cr John Hedditch shared Cr Lancashire’s sentiment but said the volume of the building could cause problems. “For another month … the Harvester ward continues to have a really high number of planning applications going through the system,” Cr Hedditch said.
“he impact of that on a ward that doesn’t have a lot of parks, doesn’t have a lot of sporting facilities, doesn’t have a lot of general community infrastructure, is enormous and over time the cumulative efect of that creates great pressures from within. “I also ask councillors to think really deeply about the impacts of each of these diferent approvals going through and what it does to the livability and strains on those particular suburbs.” hree planning appeals were determined by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) in April.
One appeal, against a council decision to refuse a planning permit for the construction of eight triple-storey dwellings at 7 West Esplanade, St Albans, was partially successful. VCAT ordered that a planning permit be issued for the construction of seven triple-storey dwellings on the site. Two appeals against conditions on planning permits for the subdivision and development of land were withdrawn ater agreements were reached between the parties. At the end of April 2020, there were 19 appeals lodged at VCAT that had not been determined, one more than for the same time last year.
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