Community Response - Tokai High (in Bergvliet)

No initiative by the city/province/national government will ever receive full backing from the communities they wish to serve. The reason being the community will never see the big picture of any development and the narrow minded views (often through no fault of their own) of individuals will always come into play. You can say you want community involvement but the needs of the many will always outway the wants of a few. Thats where government comes in to make decisions. Its just the way things work.

Dear Admin, I have attempted to respond to an anonymous comment that unfairly and without justification labels me as racist, an allegation to which I strongly object to, no less than five times, but each attempt failed to have gone through. Could you please clarify whether individual users are able to block replies to their comments, or whether the moderation and publication of replies is controlled solely by the administrators of this platform? Thank you for your assistance.

Are you people who are so anti a school aware that many of your own neighbours had their kids high school applications rejected at those top schools they can all afford? Here you lot are protesting the very need your own neighbours have. Incredible lack of awareness of the real issues out there.

For those of you that haven't seen the plans or a copy of the 'draft' Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) where the traffic and city engineers agree that a one way internal circular road will alleviate the traffic impact issues affecting the surrounding area, I am posting a snenario here for your perusal and insight as to the 'Real World' behavior patterns at todays schools and this proposed Tokai High School is no different. In fact, in my opinion....much worse. Scenario Testing the Assumption that the One-Way Internal Circular Road Proposed in the Traffic Impact Assessment Will Resolve Traffic Congestion. The draft Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) assumes that the proposed 5m one-way internal circular road, with 98 parking bays right and left of it, will adequately accommodate school drop-off and pick-up traffic and thereby mitigate congestion on surrounding roads. However, this assumption appears to underestimate both the operational realities of school traffic and the limitations of the existing road infrastructure leading to and from the school, for the following reasons. During the morning drop-off period, the TIA’s assumption that traffic will flow smoothly through the internal circulation road warrants closer examination. Although the 98 parking bays are intended primarily for approximately 65 staff members, support personnel, service providers and delivery vehicles, it is unrealistic to assume that parents will not utilize these parking bays for quick drop-offs and pick-ups, regardless of their intended designation, or temporarily stop within the circulation road itself, to allow learners to alight safely. Even short-duration stopping manoeuvres will disrupt traffic flow, particularly within a road network that is only approximately 5 metres wide and already constrained by parking on both sides. Human nature dictates that many drivers will choose the quickest and most convenient option available. As vehicles pause to drop off learners, taxis unload multiple passengers, and staff members simultaneously arrive for work, the effective capacity of the internal road will be substantially reduced. Given the narrow road width and the absence of dedicated pedestrian infrastructure, even brief stopping manoeuvres have the potential to create queues that extend beyond the school property and into the surrounding road network. While significant congestion can reasonably be expected during the morning drop-off period, the afternoon pick-up period will present an even greater operational challenge due to the extended vehicle waiting times, learner collection activities and the accumulation of traffic within the site. At peak collection times, many parents arrive before their children are ready for collection and are therefore required to wait. Taxis and scholar transport vehicles also typically wait for learners to board before departing. As a result, vehicles are likely to queue within the internal road system, reducing traffic flow and creating bottlenecks throughout the circular route and beyond. A single taxi transporting approximately 14 learners may occupy a stopping area for several minutes while learners disembark or assemble for departure. Multiple taxis operating simultaneously would significantly reduce the effective capacity of the internal road system. The situation is further complicated by the absence of dedicated pedestrian pavements along the internal road network. Learners, parents, staff and other pedestrians would be required to share space with moving vehicles, creating significant safety risks. The interaction between waiting vehicles, reversing vehicles from parking bays and large numbers of pedestrians would further reduce the efficiency of the road system and increase the potential for accidents. The impacts would not just be confined to the school property. Congestion would inevitably, and quickly, spill over into the surrounding narrow roads as vehicles queue to enter and exit the site. This would occur in an environment where hundreds of learners are expected to walk between transport modes, parking areas and school entrances but worst of all, the absence of dedicated pedestrian pavements on surrounding roads creates a significant safety concern, requiring learners to share road space with buses, taxis, private vehicles and service vehicles during the busiest periods of the day. Emergency vehicle access is another critical consideration that extends far beyond the school property itself. The issue is not simply whether an ambulance, fire engine or law enforcement vehicle can gain access to the school site, but whether emergency services can move efficiently throughout the surrounding neighbourhood during peak school periods. Such conditions could severely impede the movement of emergency vehicles responding to incidents anywhere within the area, not only at the school. Delays of even a few minutes can have serious consequences in medical emergencies, fires or public safety incidents. The TIA should therefore assess not only site access but also the wider impact of queue spillback and network congestion on emergency response times throughout the surrounding community. A realistic peak-hour scenario therefore suggests the potential for widespread traffic conflict, pedestrian safety risks and network congestion extending well beyond the school boundary. The TIA should demonstrate, through detailed traffic modelling and pedestrian safety assessments, how these foreseeable operational conditions will be safely accommodated before concluding that the proposed one-way circulation system will adequately mitigate traffic impacts. In this scenario, congestion and potential traffic standstills involving private vehicles, taxis and buses on the surrounding narrow roads could result in many learners being dropped off some distance from the school and required to walk the remaining distance in an environment lacking dedicated pedestrian pavements. At the same time, vehicles unable to enter the school's internal circulation road due to congestion would be forced to queue or stop along Ruskin Road, further contributing to network-wide congestion and safety risks. Parents travelling onwards to work would experience significant delays and frustration as traffic converges at the proposed traffic circle at the Ruskin, Aristea and Dante Roads. This intersection would be required to accommodate vehicles exiting the internal circulation road, buses departing from the dedicated embayment area, taxis, through traffic and parents dropping off or collecting learners. The convergence of these multiple traffic streams at a single point creates a substantial risk of extended queuing, traffic spillback and operational gridlock throughout the surrounding road network. This scenario that you have just read raises serious questions to the TIA's assumption that the proposed one-way internal circulation road will effectively resolve peak-hour traffic impacts. If ‘assumptions’ are allowed, as in the TIA, then a more detailed assessment should be undertaken that specifically models the reality and human behaviour patterns with drop off and pick-up conditions, pedestrian movements, emergency vehicle access requirements and the likelihood that a significant proportion of parents will continue to utilize Ruskin Road rather than the internal circulation system. As previously said, the community is not against the principal of a school but mainly against the magnitude of it, and the traffic impact that it will have in the present, very tranquil and quiet neighbourhood.

We look forward to another high school option for our kids. A leopard toad does not have more rights than a child to education. This current intake of learners into high schools in 2026 has left a lot of parents frustrated and stressed, not to mention a he kids who have to go to school and face their peers being excited about their new high school while they’re still waiting. It’s sad! And here we have people opposing a school where kids could possible walk to. Wow