To: The Board of Governors at Frensham Schools

Stop the Destruction of Wildlife Habitat in Mittagong!

The proposed location for the Frensham School's “Bush Cabins” is in a vital habitat corridor. The required clearing for the cabins, the bushfire Asset Protection Zone, and the two bushfire access roads and bridge will result in widespread destruction and death to many of the rescued wildlife that have been released into this area as well as the loss of hundred of trees.

Please amend this DA and build the cabins on land that is already cleared.

Why is this important?

To make way for the cabins, 4.2 hectares will be cleared and 249 trees will be cut down. Wombats are to be removed from the area and fenced out.

Two new access roads, sufficient to carry fully-loaded fire trucks with 4 metres cleared on each side, are to be built.

A new bridge strong enough to support the weight of loaded fire trucks will be constructed over water inhabited by platypus.

Help us save this precious habitat corridor for Frensham's future students and the Southern Highlands community.

How it will be delivered

We will email the signatures to the Board of Frensham Schools.

Maps © Stamen; Data © OSM and contributors, ODbL

Links

Campaign Facebook Page Campaign Website

Updates

2024-03-06 09:26:48 +1100

Thank you for supporting our fight against the Frensham development. While the Court upheld the project, it requires a license to relocate wombats – this poses a grave risk. Studies show relocated wombats often face increased mortality.

We need your help! Please write to Minister Penny Sharpe (Environment) and urge her to deny the biodiversity conservation license for Frensham.

Here's what to include:
Thank her for her commitment to wildlife protection.
Briefly explain the Frensham situation and the Court's decision. Highlight the dangers of wombat relocation (see attached case studies: https://wombatised.org/wp-content/uploads/Cruelty-of-Trapping-Wombats.pdf)

Request that she instruct authorities NOT to issue the license. Emphasise the need for clearer guidelines on wombat relocation.

Your voice is crucial in protecting these vulnerable creatures. Thank you.

2022-06-30 10:48:12 +1000

Dear Friends,
We would like to thank you for supporting our campaign to save the Nattai River Wildlife Corridor in Mittagong by signing this petition. We were able to present this petition to the Commissioner, hearing the case of Winfred West Schools v Wingecarribee Shire Council in the Land and Environment Court, at the site visit held at Frensham school on 18 March 2022.

The court case was heard over several subsequent days with final submissions from both parties submitted by 20 May 2022. On that day the Commissioner formally reserved his judgment (to be handed down at a later date).

As a rule of thumb, most judgments will be handed down within 3 months of the date on which they were reserved. However, this can be more or less depending upon the complexity of the matter.

We will write to you again once the judgment has been handed down.

Thank you again for your support.

Gaye White

2021-11-11 16:03:31 +1100

Frensham's Land and Environment Court proceedings are now listed for hearing on 18 and 21-23 March 2022.

2021-10-16 08:10:11 +1100

Frensham Defers Land and Environment Court Case. It is unclear how long this delay will last

Frensham last week moved to ‘vacate the dates’ of the 12/14th October for the hearing in the Winifred West Schools v Wingecarribee Shire Council case over the Frensham Bush Student Accommodation. This means, in effect, that Frensham has deferred the court hearing. Read more here...
https://winzero.com.au/frensham-controversial-bush-cabins-delayed-in-court/

2021-09-30 21:45:37 +1000

Frensham has refused all efforts by local conservation groups to discuss their choice of location for a controversial student bush accommodation.

Winzero conducted a public zoom meeting to inform the community about the plans for this development and the consequences on a wildlife sanctuary, a critical ecological community, a primary habitat corridor and in and near a category 1 Riparian Zone of the Nattai River.

https://youtu.be/gzVBQbthZ4w

2021-09-12 17:25:27 +1000

CALL FOR FRENSHAM SCHOOL’S BUSH CABINS TO BE SCRAPPED

Community environment experts and group leaders in the Southern Highlands are calling on the Frensham Board of Governors to abandon its DA for bush cabins to be positioned in the critically endangered ecological community in the Lower Holt.

Representative of Australian Wildlife Society, Wildlife carers, Bushcare groups, Wombatised, Birdlife Southern Highlands, WinZero and Australian Native Plants Society, amongst others. signed an Open Letter addressed to the Frensham Board of Governors.

Open Letter to Frensham Board of Governors

http://winzero.com.au/open-letter-to-frensham-board-of-governors

2021-08-31 16:37:19 +1000

‘Frensham girls will be standing in front of the bulldozer’

One of the country’s most prestigious girls schools, Frensham, is at war with its influential alumni over multi-million-dollar plans to build a bush campus modelled partly on Geelong Grammar’s famous Timbertop property.