Young High School from the above.
Hilltops Council announced this week that a new proposed joint-use library facility will be built at Young High School on Department of Education land.
The project costing upwards of $26 million dollars.
Council is proposing a three-level building which includes reading areas, video conferencing, a multipurpose workshop, computer lab, youth wellbeing hub, a coffee bar and a Wiradjuri learning and cultural centre.
It now appears Hilltops Council is entering the hospitality industry.
The Library will be shared between Young High School and the Hilltops general public.
The project is over the threshold of Council’s ability to approve the development and is classed as State significant, meaning it will be determined by the NSW Government’s Department of Planning and Environment.
Council received $3.1 million dollars from the State Government under local Member Steph Cooke from the Cultural Regional Fund after receiving $2 million dollars from the Stronger Communities Fund during Administration.
Council will be contributing $1.5 million in a long-term loan, meaning rate payers in Boorowa and Harden will be footing the bill along with those in Young for the new facility.
The Department of Education is responsible for the remainder of the funding which raises the question, Is it a school upgrade? or a Library upgrade?
The Young Resident and Community Association will now look at the proposal as it stands after rejecting an encroachment on Carrington Park which is of heritage significance.
The student numbers at the surrounding schools within driving distance to Young with 576 students include; Cootamundra High 304, Sacred Heart Cootamundra 286, Temora High 334, St Anne’s 222 (across 13 years) Grenfell Henry Lawson High 174, Boorowa Central School 216 (across 13 years) and Murrumburrah High the smallest with 124 students across 6 grades averaging 20.6 students.
The 2019 Resource Allocation Model (Ram) has allocated funding this year of $1,173,006 to Young High which is the highest across the electorate.
Murrumburrah High received $380,518.
Cooke’s husband, Keith Duran is the current Principal of Young High School.
Minto ‘Community Library’ in Campbelltown closed in 2013 due to tighter restrictions on school security.
The closure meant patrons in Minto and nearby suburbs such as Leumeah had to travel to Ingleburn and Eagle Vale to borrow a book.
The public library was based inside the Sarah Redfern school complex since an agreement to share resources was reached between Campbelltown Council and the Education Department in the early 1980s.
The Council’s community Services Director Lindy Deitz said at the time that times had changed and having the library open to the general public gave rise to student safety concerns.
“That’s together with a declining use of the library, from a public perspective, not a schools perspective.”
A NSW Department of Education and Communities spokesman confirmed Sarah Redfern High School and Sarah Redfern Public School now owned the library.
In October 2013 Campbelltown MP Bryan Doyle said Minto Library served an early role, but the council had since developed an $11 million library at Ingleburn.
“I think the days of having the shared community library with a school are over, especially given child protection concerns,” he said.
It is unclear what is in the Young High School-Hilltops Council joint-library Heads of Agreement, or if the Department of Education will take ownership of the building at a later stage leaving the Hilltops Council without a library in Young.
The Times will be seeking comment from Hilltops Council regarding the contents of the document.
