ARROWTOWN There is considerable local opposition to an application for resource consent to build a Catholic primary school near Arrowtown in Central Otago. Dunedin diocese is seeking consent from the Queenstown Lakes District Council to build a 112-student primary school on a 2.59-hectare block of land in Speargrass Flat Rd. The property is situated in the middle of a rural residential zone under the existing district plan.
The Church currently runs St Josephs School in Queenstown, which has a cap of 160 students. With rapid population growth in the Wakatipu Basin, there is strong demand for a Catholic primary school, especially from Arrowtown and the equally rapidly expanding Lake Hayes Estate.
While the application is limited to the construction of a 112-student school at the Speargrass Flat site, population projections forecast a roll of about 280 by 2021.
The proposed school would operate under the umbrella of St Josephs, with the principal of that school also being the principal of the Speargrass Flat outpost.
Plans for the school include three classrooms and an office complex built in two stages. There is also provision for a library and facilities for a staff of up to 10 teachers and aides. It also includes a playing field and 43 car parks on the site.
There are 26 submissions opposing the application and most of them are from local people. They focus on issues such as pressure on existing infrastructure in the area, reduction of privacy and amenity values, as well as noise, traffic and loss of rural character.
However, counsel for the Dunedin diocese, Russell Ibbotson, said much of the rural character of the region has already been lost by close settlement.
Many Catholics in the south are following the establishment of a Catholic primary school in the Arrowtown region with interest.
The first Catholic primary school was established in the late 1860s and was staffed by a layman. That school closed in the late 1870s when the Arrow River gold rush wound to a close.
However, in 1897, Blessed Mary MacKillop founded another Catholic primary school in Arrowtown and her Sisters of St Joseph staffed this. The school continued to be run by the Sisters of St Joseph until 1943 when it was closed.
