{"id":192450,"date":"2026-07-24T09:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T23:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/council-knocks-back-leopold-childcare-centre\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T09:44:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T23:44:26","slug":"council-knocks-back-leopold-childcare-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/council-knocks-back-leopold-childcare-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Council knocks back Leopold childcare centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City of Greater Geelong’s planning committee has sided with residents, rejecting a proposal for a childcare centre in Leopold despite council officers recommending it be approved.<\/p>\n

At its meeting on Thursday, the committee refused the application for the two-storey facility at 127 Christies Road, saying it would be inappropriately located within a residential area.<\/p>\n

To be built on the site of an existing house, the centre would have places for 72 children and include a 15-space car park.<\/p>\n

The application attracted 61 objections, with residents raising concerns about the location of a childcare centre in a residential area, a lack of demonstrated need, traffic, noise, waste management, safety, overlooking and overshadowing.<\/p>\n

Kathryn Perus, who lives near the proposed site, said she was not in-principle opposed to childcare<\/a> centres.<\/p>\n

“I rely on them. That’s the way that my family can function. It’s a central infrastructure for families, growing communities like Leopold,” she said.<\/p>\n

“What I do not support is the proposed location at this scale.”<\/p>\n

She said the 61 objections reflected an “extraordinary level of community engagement”.<\/p>\n

“They’re not motivated by opposition of childcare. They’re motivated by people who live, work, walk, drive and raise families in this area every day,” she said.<\/p>\n

Council officers concluded the proposal met the city’s planning scheme “on balance” and recommended a permit be issued, but Cr Trent Sullivan successfully moved an alternate motion to refuse the permit on several grounds.<\/p>\n

The committee found the proposal was incompatible with the surrounding residential character, did not appropriately serve a local community need in a suitable location, featured an inappropriate design and appearance and would generate unacceptable traffic impacts.<\/p>\n

Cr Sullivan said the objectors represented the “passionate community” of Leopold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“This isn’t NIMBYism, this is a community that engages not only with local residents but with childcare itself,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This is a community that’s concerned with the health and safety of residents, commuters and what would possibly be future users of this facility as well.<\/p>\n

“The concerns about health and safety is a basic right, and it shouldn’t be a right the community has to come in and ask for.”<\/p>\n

Client representative Benny Singh, from Permits Hub, said a childcare centre was permissible within the general residential zone and also met the city’s strategic objectives.<\/p>\n

“It’s a local community and education facility that will serve the daily needs of local families, create local employment and contribute to the Leopold’s identified role as a service hub,” he said.<\/p>\n

Singh said there was demand for a new childcare centre<\/a> in Leopold as there were about 700 children aged between 0 and 5 in the suburb but only 450 places available.<\/p>\n

“There’s still a shortage of at least 300 to 400 children and this is a very modest scale childcare centre of 72 children,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The City of Greater Geelong’s planning committee has sided with residents, rejecting a proposal for a childcare centre in Leopold despite council officers recommending it be approved. At its meeting on Thursday, the committee refused the application for the two-storey facility at 127 Christies Road, saying it would be inappropriately located within a residential area. […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":192451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_section_post":"","home_featured_section_post":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-192450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCouncil knocks back Leopold childcare centre - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The City of Greater Geelong has refused the application for the facility in Christies Road, saying it would be inappropriately located.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/council-knocks-back-leopold-childcare-centre\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Council knocks back Leopold childcare centre - 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