Making Charles Sturt University and NSW TAFE campuses at Thurgoona more community accessible was ignoring the obvious educational priorities in the city's growth corridor, according to Albury councillor David Thurley..
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Cr Thurley said demand for more high and primary schools in Thurgoona was clearly evident and had been borne out in consultation carried out by council in the project it was managing for CSU and TAFE.
"The (community) knew almost nothing about CSU and TAFE and yet they all talked about high schools and primary schools," he said.
"Every time we talk about Thrgoona Public School it is about parking and doing all sorts of bandaid fixes to fit more and more kids on this site.
"Someone needs to get a bit tougher with the education department."
IN OTHER NEWS
Trinity Anglican College and Border Christian College are also located nearby and the Catholic Church has land earmarked for a school in the area.
City development service leader David Christy said the department was aware more schools were needed.
"It is about how we could get tie-ins and synergies between those facilities without excessive duplication of some of the practical thing such as ovals," he said.
"The NSW TAFE portion is owned by the Department of Education and the department's advice to us initially was if they've got land they already own they will be looking at that to provide future schooling."
Surveys with residents revealed a large number of people had never been to either CSU or TAFE at Thurgoona despite there being a cafe, organic farm shop and mountain bike track all open to the general public.
The update on the CSU-NSW TAFE project, which began earlier this year, was presented to Albury councillors on Monday night.
A master-plan for the two sites will be presented to councillors in the new year.
