Council is asking for your help with two matters, both of which will have a significant impact on the southern and south-western coastal areas of the shire.
The first is the ongoing issue of whether Emu Park needs a State High School.
Going back a few years, there seemingly was state government support for a High School at both Emu Park and Gracemere. This support somehow disappeared into the ether. One minute support was there, next minute it was not.
Following discussion at the Council table recently, council has written to the Queensland Minister for Education respectfully requesting that a State High School at Emu Park be built.
Conversations with the State Government in past years have resulted in Council being told that the number of potential students within the Emu Park catchment area (Emu Park, Zilzie, Keppel Cove, Kinka, Keppel Sands, Cawarral, and Mt Chalmers) did not justify the construction of a High School.
Well, Council thinks it is time the whole question of the need for a High School at Emu Park was revisited. The reasoning is as follows:
The Livingstone Shire has had significant growth over the past few years, and a good deal of this growth has occurred in the catchment area discussed previously.
Given the current level of growth and the future growth to come, would it not be a good idea to build a High School now to pre-empt the future demand and save money on future building costs?
Data shows a substantial number of students travelling to Yeppoon State High School for up to an hour or more each way. Not only is this unproductive time, but there are always risks when travelling.
The Yeppoon State High School will eventually reach its capacity if it hasn’t already, so let’s get ahead of this. Why overload a great school?
What is the leakage of students to Rockhampton schools because Emu Park has no High School?
Council is therefore seeking your support in lobbying for a High School at Emu Park. You can write to the Member for Keppel’s office, write to Education Queensland, or write to the Queensland Schools Planning Reference Committee. Please don’t be complacent as inaction will generate the same response from Education Queensland.
Council is also looking for your comments on the future of the Emu Park landing area.
This is the landing area just outside of Emu Park on the road to Rockhampton. Currently, it’s owned by the Queensland Government with Council as trustee and used as an aircraft landing strip.
A recent safety audit of the site has shown that the landing strip does not comply with CASA’s safety standards, with the cost to make it compliant being around $300,000.
Before taking any further actions, Council wants to know your thoughts on what should happen with this site.
Council officers will be actively engaging with the community to get your views, so please keep a look out for our street stalls in Emu Park and our marquees at the Emu Park markets. We have also launched an online survey which can be found on Council’s website and Facebook page for those who find this style of engagement easier.
Please let us know your thoughts.
