Application PP-909/2025 · 297–307 Roslyn Road, Highton · public comment closes 6 August 2026
A 116-place childcare centre is proposed for 297–307 Roslyn Road, Highton.
This is a residents’ guide to that application — what the documents actually say, what they leave unanswered, and how to make a submission before Council decides. It is not an official Council site, and it will not tell you what to think.
Object in 3 minutes → or read on below
In short
- A 116-place childcare centre is proposed for 297–307 Roslyn Road, open 6:30 am to 6:30 pm on weekdays, with 27 on-site car spaces and one new driveway onto Roslyn Road. Detail
- There is no traffic assessment. The zone requires Council to consider the traffic the proposal would generate. Across all 36 pages of the applicant’s planning report, there is no trip figure and no queuing analysis. The only vehicle-movement number in the application was made up by an acoustic consultant, for noise modelling, who said it needed a traffic study behind it. Detail
- You cannot object to the flooding part. The flood overlay trigger is exempt from public notice and from review rights. Council’s sign says so; Council’s website does not. Detail
- Nine documents are named but not published — including the drawings an independent reviewer relied on to reach a favourable conclusion. Anyone can ask Council for them. Ask for them
- A second childcare centre is already permitted on this road. Nothing assesses the two together. Detail
- An officer will probably decide this, not a councillor — unless enough people make submissions and a councillor calls it in, in which case objectors can speak at a public hearing. How that works
Public comment closes 6 August 2026. If you only do one thing, do this:
Council is taking public comment now
Council currently lists 6 August 2026 for public comment on application PP-909/2025. Submit as early as possible. Council states that a submission received after that date may still be considered if it is received before Council makes a decision. Do not delay if you can submit now.
You can object, or write a letter of support. Both go through the same official page.
Read the documents and make your submissionOpens Council’s official application pagehttps://app.geelongcity.vic.gov.au/advertisedplanning/adlist_detail.aspx?app_number=909%2F2025
Not sure what to write? Council only acts on certain kinds of concern. Our three-question helper turns what bothers you into the language Council actually weighs — then you paste it into their form.
Council says objections and letters of support are public documents, and that the submitter’s name and postal address may be viewed, excluding contact details.
What is proposed
“Use and Development of a Childcare Centre and Construction of Dwelling and Removal of Native Vegetation.”
Proposal as described on Council’s application page for 909/2025.- Child places116, across six rooms
- Proposed hours6:30 am – 6:30 pm, weekdays
- On-site car spaces27 in total — 25 for the centre, 2 for the dwelling
- Vehicle accessOne new crossover proposed on the Roslyn Road frontage
- Also includedOne two-storey dwelling facing Remony Avenue, and removal of native vegetation
- Wider siteThe applicant’s planning report describes this as the first stage of the development of the wider site
Does your voice actually matter?
Council has refused a childcare centre in this municipality against its own officers’ recommendation, after 61 residents made submissions. It does not always go that way. Either way, a submission is what keeps you notified and gives you standing later.
The issues people are raising
Each of these is a question, not a finding. Follow any of them to see what the application documents actually say, what they leave open, and what the applicant says in response.
Traffic and the new crossover
How have the traffic effects of a 116-place centre on Roslyn Road been assessed?
School-period walking and cycling
How would school-period pedestrian and cyclist movements interact with the proposed crossover?
Flooding: the part you cannot object to
Why is the flood overlay exempt from public comment, and what replaces your right to be heard?
Noise and the proposed hours
Was an hour of afternoon monitoring representative of a centre operating 6:30 am to 6:30 pm?
Two centres, one road, no combined assessment
A childcare centre is already permitted nearby. Has this application shown it works alongside it?
Staged development of the wider site
What else is planned for this land, and how does it fit together?
Effects on nearby homes
How would access, parking, lighting, fencing and landscaping affect the homes around the site?
Trees and native vegetation
What vegetation would be removed, and is it fully covered by the application?
Why this site exists
This started with the sign on the fence. One look at it, one thought about what another 116 children arriving and leaving would do to a school run that is already difficult — and then a slow realisation, reading further, that the proposal was larger and more complicated than the notice made it sound.
What followed was weeks of working through planning reports, acoustic modelling, overlay clauses and council minutes to answer two questions: what is actually being proposed, and what can an ordinary resident do about it. This site is that work, written out plainly. The documents are public but they are not readable, and the process is not designed to be understood in an afternoon.
What this site is not
This is not a campaign against childcare centres, and it is not a campaign against development. Childcare is a legitimate use, Highton needs it, and most proposals in the suburb are unremarkable and get built without anyone noticing — rightly.
This site is about one application, at one address, and the specific things about that site and that proposal which appear not to have been assessed. Nothing here should be read as an argument against any other proposal, including other childcare centres nearby. Each application is decided on its own merits, and that is how it should be.
Nobody here is telling you what to think. The point is that you should be able to find out what is proposed, understand what Council can and cannot take into account, and know what your options are — in an evening, not a month.
Who actually decides this
Most planning applications are decided by a council officer, not by elected councillors. Council has a published process under which an application can instead be heard by the elected Planning Committee, in public, where objectors can speak. It depends in part on how many people make a submission — but it is not automatic, and it is widely misdescribed.
What that means, and what to ask →
Before you write
- Council publishes its own guide on making an effective submission, which sets out what it can and cannot take into account. We have summarised it on What Council can consider.
- Council also provides a downloadable objection form if you would rather not use the online form.
- Write in your own words, about how the proposal would affect you. A short submission describing your own experience carries more weight than a long one that copies someone else.