November 3, 2026 — 9:16pm
Kedron residents have been assured their rejection of sweeping traffic controls near three private schools in the heart of their Brisbane inner-north suburb will result in changes to the plans, but another project several streets away has reignited “genuine anger”.
Marchant ward councillor Danita Parry told 4BC on Friday she was “absolutely” on residents’ side when it came to parking restrictions proposed around northern Brisbane schools Mount Alvernia College, Padua College, and St Anthony’s Primary School.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner repeated the stance on the Brisbane City Council’s Tuesday meeting, promising revisions that would achieve “the right balance” between the residents and school communities.
“I know that there’s been some strong views on some proposed parking changes, and we’re more than happy to receive the community’s views on those,” he said.
“We are listening, we will make changes to the plan, and when it is finalised, it will reflect the desires of the community.”
At the closure of community consultation on Sunday, the council had received more than 320 pieces of feedback.
However, one day after precinct consultation had closed, about two dozen residents attended a separate consultation meeting for a traffic project along an adjacent street that was not included in the council proposal.
Overseen by Colliers, the build included a street crossing at the intersection of Wayland and Lennon Streets, which would allow students to cross from the Padua campus to a former council depot and quarry site jointly owned by the schools.
Development applications first lodged in 2024 and re-lodged in June this year showed council approvals for new line markings for the intersection and no-stopping lines that would remove about 12 on-street parks.
The quarry site is earmarked for development that would expand both campuses, although neither school has publicly released a master plan.
Wayland Street resident Simon Graham said he had believed the project was “dead and buried” when it was not included in the council’s traffic plan, but soon realised that was not the case.
He said the majority of locals present at the Monday night meeting – which was also attended by Parry and Labor state MP Luke Richmond – were upset they had not been consulted.
“The anger [was] palpable in the room … there was genuine anger,” he said. “None of the residents want this to be adversarial.”
A development application document from Colliers updated and re-released in May this year also pointed to polling undertaken by the council in late 2024 as relevant consultation for the Wayland Street project.
“What aggrieved most residents was learning that an alternative had been assessed but was not put to the Department of Transport and Main Roads or [the] council because of cost,” he said.
He said Colliers had expected a crossing further up the road – which would require a lift down the quarry’s 20-metre cliff – could cost up to $3.5 million to construct.
The developers quoted closer to $1.5 million for the current proposal, Graham said.
“The difference of roughly $2 million is small in the context of a redevelopment I would expect to cost tens of millions of dollars,” he said.
A letter sent from the schools in September 2024 revealed the project would be funded with a state grant, similar to raised pedestrian crossing projects along Turner Road mapped out in the safer schools precinct plan.
Padua and Mount Alvernia were contacted for comment.
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Source: The Age · Catherine Strohfeldt
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