Staff, parents and students from Alphington Grammar School in Melbourne’s inner north held a rally on Tuesday morning in defiance of Yarra City Council’s demand to permanently open the school’s front gates to the public.
Following this rally, sources have told The Greek Herald trucks arrived at the school late on Tuesday night to remove the pedestrian gate from their private property.
In a statement today, the Yarra City Council said they removed the gate as it “was installed by the school illegally and without permission.”
The Council unanimously voted last year to reopen Old Heidelberg Road, a dead-end street that runs through the grounds of the school, in order to provide public access to Darebin Creek.
“With the removal of the gate, the community is now able to access public land on weekends and on public holidays as is their legal right,” the council statement reads.
READ MORE: Alphington Grammar school races to overturn Yarra Council’s gate removal demand.
“Council is incredibly disappointed Alphington Grammar School did not do the right thing and comply with their legal requirement to remove the gate, which was effectively privatising public land.”
In response, the school has escalated its fight with the Council by considering its legal options. Extra CCTV cameras have also been trained on the school’s main entrance over fears strangers could roam school grounds unchecked.
“We’re concerned about paedophiles, and drug and alcohol affected people. Members of the public could be interacting with the kids,” Sarah Baker, who has a daughter at the school, told The Herald Sun about her safety concerns.
“People riding bikes and scooters through that school area would be endangering the lives of the young children.”
School Principal, Dr Vivianne Nikou, also told The Age today that the decision to remove the gate was “lunacy” and the school has since stuck a temporary gate across the footpath.
“Some of the local residents are deliberately being provocative by walking through and saying, we are entitled to be here, right in the middle of kids arriving,” Dr Nikou said.
VicRoads has investigated building a new link to the Darebin Creek Trail via Old Heidelberg Road, but rejected the idea due to concerns about student safety, environmental impact and high cost. Instead, it is building a $9.1 million path a short distance south of the school, which will connect the trail to Farm Road.
The Greek Herald has contacted the Victorian Department of Education and Yarra Council for a comment.
