Angie Kelly

Developers are actively targeting sites close to schools to build mixed-use petrol stations with fast-food outlets. There has been a clear increase in the number of these types of developments in the last couple of years, and communities across Australia are trying to stop them.

Maleny, in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, is one of those communities.

A Brisbane-based developer has applied to council to build a 24/7, 8-bowser petrol station with two fast food outlets just 40 metres across the road from our local primary school. 40 metres!

Over 400 children attend the Maleny State School. Many of those children will be in classrooms only 40 or 50 metres from the petrol station. There is so much that is wrong with this that it's hard to know where to start.

• It's too close to a school and all the students and employees that spend a minimum of 1,200 hours a year there (8,400 hours over 7 years of primary schooling).
• The two-lane main road is already heavily congested, especially at school drop off and pick up times, and this development will only add to the traffic congestion. This directly impacts on the safety of students, staff and parents for the primary school and high school (just up the road) - whether as pedestrians or in vehicles.
• Evidence from international research clearly states the negative health effects from exposure to emissions from petrol stations and idling vehicles (due to traffic congestion).
• Maleny is a key tourist destination for the Sunshine Coast and Hinterland. It's brand is its uniqueness, character and heritage. The integrity of that brand will be ruined with an imposing petrol station and fast food development at the entrance to the township.

Evidence-based opposition

These are some of the health and safety facts we’ve presented as evidence against the DA.  Makes for uneasy reading.

Children are the most vulnerable cohort:
A number of factors explain why the risks for unborn babies, newborns and young children are highest. Exposure to air pollution at a young age can hinder lung growth, inhibit brain development and increase the risk of conditions such as asthma (extract from United Nations online).

Onsite risks of a petrol station:
Toxic vapours, such as benzene, are a known carcinogen. We found 3 recent studies citing high rates of leukaemia in residents living at or within 50m of petrol stations; fire and explosion (with accompanying toxic smoke).

Traffic pollution:
Identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the most prevalent form of air pollution, causing ill health and death.

Particulate matter (PM):
PM is the mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air.  Both fine PM and ultrafine PM are implicated in the adverse health impacts of traffic emissions.  Ultrafine form the majority of vehicle emissions and pose the greatest threat, entering the lungs and bloodstream. Diesel emissions are particularly toxic.

Exposure to traffic pollution:
According to the World Health Organisation, there is no evidence of a safe level of exposure or a threshold below which no adverse health effects occur.

Long-term exposure = higher risk:
 Epidemiological studies show further evidence that long-term (years) exposure to PM2.5 is associated with both mortality and morbidity (2013 joint WHO/EU report).  More recently, research on ultrafine PM has produced more ominous findings.

 Dispersal patterns:  
 Vehicle pollutant concentrations are higher closer to the road, with the highest levels within the first 150 metres of a roadway, and reaching background levels at approximately 600 metres. (US EPA)   

Idling vehicles produce the most dangerous pollution:
An idling vehicle produces twice as many exhaust fumes as a vehicle in motion.  Because of their size, children are closer to idling emissions.  From UNICEF: Children breathe twice as quickly as adults, and take in more air relative to their body weight.  Their respiratory tracts are more permeable and thus more vulnerable.  Their immune systems are weaker.  Their brains are still developing.

Our duty of care to children

Whether sitting in classrooms, playing outside, at the pool, arriving at or leaving school, our kids will be within the highest zone of vehicle pollution if this DA is approved.

The risks can’t be brushed off by saying Maleny’s situation still wouldn’t be as bad as that of schools in heavily polluted city environments.  

The World Health Organisation is unequivocal. There is no safe level of exposure to air or traffic emissions.

Our kids live in a clean and green environment.  There’s nothing clean and green about ANY LEVEL of toxic emissions.

We’re drawing the line. We don’t have a service station there now. To impose one on our kids would be indefensible. More pollution can never be a good thing.

We have a duty of care to these children, as does the government.

No Fuel Opposite School Facebook page

Online petition at change.org

All funds raised will go towards paying for legal advice on how to stop this DA in its tracks.

We're at the pointy end of the stick now. Local and state government will decide if this DA is approved within the next few weeks. We urgently need funds to secure legal advice on our best strategy for stopping this unacceptable development before that decision is made.

We have gathered all the evidence and familiarised ourselves woth the Sunshine Coast Regional Council planning scheme and Queensland Government Planning Strategy, but we're not lawyers.

To win this battle, where government and planning is clearly on the side of developers, will require targeted and strategic action. We don't have time to try a lot of angles. We need expert advice on what presents the most likely opportunity for our success.

We have a legal team ready and waiting to go on this, once we have the funds to pay them.