The Bungendore residents' group opposing the building of the new high school precinct in the centre of the country town is preparing legal action to prevent the project going ahead.
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The first steps in that process have already occurred with letters issued by solicitors, acting on behalf of the Save Bungendore Park group, to the NSW ministers for planning and education, and the secretary of the NSW Department of Education.
The letters outline how the group believes consent for the development was invalid and Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, which owns the land and manages the Crown Land, was required to provide its consent.
It also alleged that the Crown Land Management Act was breached in the approval of the development application.
The cash-strapped council opposed the centre-town location and the compulsory acquisition process by the NSW government even short-changed them financially, with the dispute over land values currently before the NSW Land and Environment Court.
The council, like the Save Bungendore Park group, is fully supportive of a new high school in a more suitable location, with as many as four alternative greenfield sites available.
The current proposal carves off a large section of the historic Mick Sherd Oval, takes out the Bungendore pool and the existing community centre.
The pool will close at the end of this swim season and estimates put an 8-lane 25-metre replacement pool at more than $10 million. The council said that design work for a replacement was underway but construction was "subject to funding becoming available".
No construction work on the school site has started but the area has been temporarily fenced off.
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In June last year, the design of the new high school was revised to address some of the concerns of residents, including more car parking, smaller buildings and changes to the types and mixture of materials to fit in with the heritage streetscape.
It also moved the community centre, public library and Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council shopfront out of the school grounds to a new council community hub.
As part of its initial legal challenge, the Save Bungendore Park has requested the NSW government provide an undertaking it will not start the civil works.
The new high school is currently operating for year 7 and 8 students from a series of demountables, powered by diesel generators, on the playgrounds of the primary school.
The location has become a political hot-button issue, with sitting member Nichole Overall, from the National Party, determined to see through the project which the disgraced former Nationals local member for Monaro, John Barilaro, originally fast-tracked before he resigned from NSW Parliament.
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