Bungendore residents have called upon the new Labor MP for Monaro, Steve Whan, to organise an independent review into the controversial Bungendore High School, as he promised during the election.

“Many in our community changed voting habits of a lifetime and put their trust in Steve Whan and NSW Labor ministers to get this review underway as soon as possible and publish the findings to the Bungendore community,” said a spokesman for Save Bungendore Park, a local action group opposed to the site chosen.

The school was announced by the then-National NSW Government several years ago, but is yet to be built. The action group claim that the chosen site, Bungendore Park, is “dogged with issues of crown land legalities, heritage loss, destruction of community facilities, and traffic safety issues”. In their view, the process was secretive and lacked consultation, “prioritising timing at the expense of proper planning, and even then running behind schedule”.

John Barilaro, former National MP for Monaro, promised a new high school would open for Term 1 this year – just before the 2023 NSW election, Save Bungendore Park observed. Mr Barilaro’s successor, Nichole Overall, and former NSW education minister Sarah Mitchell (both Nationals) also supported the project.

The NSW Department of Education selected Bungendore Park as the site of the new school in 2020, and the government compulsorily acquired the site (deemed crown land) in 2021.

Save Bungendore Park notes, however, that documents obtained under FOI show the government first selected another site in Bungendore, on Tarago Road. The government rejected this and settled on the park, which the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment had dismissed as “not suitable” in its Bungendore High School Site Search Summary Report.

“Assessments of alternative sites appear to have been skewed to support the current site selection, and were not therefore considered in good faith,” Save Bungendore Park said.

“The process has been appalling and the secrecy around the decision made is unjustifiable,” Mr Whan said during his election campaign.

“If I am elected, I will be seeking to make public and potentially advocate an independent review into this project. The Government’s failure to be transparent and the decade-long delay in starting the project, has created the division in Bungendore and has turned what should be a good news story into a source of community angst.”

The action group is intent on holding him to his word. “Trust needs to be restored after the toxic and divisive behaviour of our former local members,” Save Bungendore Park said. “We want to move beyond the divisions that have fractured our community and work together to deliver a top rate school for Bungendore.”

The Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council withdrew its support for the government’s proposed Bungendore Park site last year.

Last month, Save Bungendore Park began proceedings in the NSW Land and Environment Court against the then-NSW Minister for Planning and the Department of Education to have the development consent for the school declared invalid and the project stopped. The matter is listed for an initial directions hearing on 5 May.

In their view, the Bungendore Park school would be overcrowded (the school’s maximum capacity was 450, but the government expected 478 enrolments); and it would entail a major loss of civic amenity (the park itself, while the high school’s massive multistorey buildings would overshadow the heritage-listed park and soldiers’ memorial).

“It was the wrong school, too small, in the wrong location, in a site chosen for the wrong reasons,” Save Bungendore Park said.

The action group is also concerned children could be exposed to lead and arsenic. Earlier this month, the NSW Environment Protection Authority declared that the adjacent Bungendore Rail Corridor and Station were significantly contaminated by the elements. Save Bungendore Park fears the poisons would seep into the school’s agricultural plot.

“The approved use of adjoining land for residential and school purposes may increase the risk of harm caused by contaminants of the land,” the NSW EPA stated.

The action group believes the government should consider the Tarago Road site or another in Trucking Yard Lane, both still available. These, it argues, offer relatively unconstrained growth; are convenient for residents of new suburbs in the town’s south and north; have excellent transport connections; and do not have the traffic and infrastructure issues that affect the current proposal.