Northern areas such as Pimpama already are among the fast-growing in Australia, recording population hikes of 20 per cent a year.
In the wider Coast region over the next five years, at least nine new schools need to be built and seven existing schools to be upgraded.
Social commentator Bernard Salt last year warned 35 schools would need to be built in the region and said sports facilities and grounds may have to be sacrificed to meet demand.
He said schools could use public sports facilities or share grounds.
Since he revealed the education infrastructure crisis, the State Government has announced one new school in the region, set to open at Coomera by 2019.
“There would come a point where you would be working out of the portable classrooms,” Mr Salt said this week.
Coomera MP Michael Crandon said he was so concerned about housing development he sought data from the Parliamentary Library and Research Service to accessgrowth rates in his electorate.
The latest research shows Pimpama is the highest in the state, at 20 per cent growth. North Lakes is next at 9.7 per cent.
The northern electorates of Albert, Coomera and Gaven now house about 31 per cent of the Gold Coast city population. Coomera alone has 70,669 residents.
“In a nutshell, a massive increase in numbers is far beyond what anyone in planning imagined,” Mr Crandon said.
“I’ve had seven new schools open in six years, between 2009 and 2015. Four of them are state schools and three are private schools, all in a 10km stretch of the Pacific Motorway.”
An eighth school, called Coomera East, will open in 2019.
Read the full article written by the Gold Coast Bulletin
HERE.
