Sharon Webb

A ratepayers’ group who resorted to legal action to prevent a drug rehabilitation group from using former primary school buildings is cautiously positive about new Meander Valley Council plans for use of the site.

The president of Meander Area Residents and Ratepayers Association (MARRA), Bodhi McSweeney, said the council’s announcement of Deloraine High School using the site while a second expression of interest process took place seemed a good use of the buildings.

‘We’re hoping this will be a good process after the last expression of interest process caused so much trouble in the community’, she said.

The mayor of Meander Valley Council, Cllr Wayne Johnston, announced four steps towards leasing the site to a suitable group by the end of 2021.

• Deloraine High School has short term access to the site to run a pilot education program to improve engagement of students from across Meander Valley. The pilot program will cover two school terms, concluding in December.

• The council writes to Meander residents asking them for their views on what should be addressed in the request for proposals to use the site, and explaining the steps to decide its long term use.

• The council consults the community. Cllr Johnston described this process thus, ‘representatives from community organisations active in Meander will help shortlist proposals ahead of any decision by the council’. Timing – July 2021.

• The council advertises widely for expressions of interest in using the site. Cllr Johnston told the Tasmania Talks program on 7LA that this was to ‘see what potential uses there are of the school’. Timing –July to September 2021.

Cllr Johnston told 7LA, ‘We hope to bring community forums together to look at those applications when they come in and make recommendations to see what might be for the primary school going forward.’

Deloraine High School’s pilot program will focus on improving educational engagement of students from across Meander Valley.

It is believed this will involve the Beacon Trust, already active in the school.

Deloraine High School principal David Leitzau describes the program as ‘a diverse educational experience that will also incorporate some practical learning as the students undertake some of the basic maintenance tasks required on the old school site’.

Beacon focuses on disadvantaged communities and areas of high youth disengagement and unemployment, inspiring young people to think about careers and experience the workplace long before they leave school.

Meander Valley Council’s decision to hand over the former Meander School property to rehab group Teen Challenge four years ago caused significant rifts in the Meander community.

At one stage many Meander front gardens displayed posters of support for the faith based group.

Residents disagreeing with the council’s allocation of the property to Teen Challenge for a peppercorn rent established ratepayers association MARRA.

MARRA and the council faced off on six occasions in Tasmania’s planning tribunal and the Supreme Court with both groups spending big on legal representation.

MARRA won, with a decision in June 2020 that the site was not suitable for Teen Challenge’s use on bushfire protection grounds. In August Teen Challenge said it no longer wanted to use the property.

At that time Cllr Johnston, who lives in Meander, said he was disappointed the proposal had ‘polarised’ the community, referring to MARRA as a ‘small group’ that had ‘pursued a war of attrition’.

Announcing the new plan, Cllr Johnston said, ‘We understand that there are strong and diverse views about the use of the site, but we want to bring the community together to work towards consensus and to explore all the possibilities the old Meander Primary School offers us.’