Camels have come home to roost for the Bass Hill RAG.
The Land and Environment Court (LEC) has given conditional approval for an Islamic school to be built in Sydney’s south-west, despite the controversial plan having been rejected twice by Bankstown Council.
Bankstown’s opposition to the school has led to accusations that race had played a part in its decision, particularly when one councillor in October asked if a study had been done on the school’s likely impact on racial harmony in the area.
The controversy has been compared with the case of an Islamic school in Camden, which was rejected on planning grounds earlier this year amid a strident anti-Muslim campaign.
Ms Mihailuk said there was no similarity between the two, saying that while a strong community campaign had accompanied the development’s rejection by the council, race was never an issue.
“We didn’t have what occurred in Camden,” she said.
“The majority of objections have been on planning considerations. I don’t think that we had that campaign of race that took place there.”
Yahoo! 7news
Race nor religion are considerations under the town planning laws, so this could not have been a valid reason for the council’s rejection. Race nor religion is not a valid concern for council consideration in Camden either (aside from the fact that Islam is not a race), but at least the residents were vocal about having Islam in the ‘hood. The Bass Hill RAG spent too much time being politically correct, spent time at their meetings talking about how inclusive they were, etc,etc, now the camels have come home to roost…They can have all the inclusiveness they want now. Still, this decision demonstrates how undemocratic the local planning processes are when residents don’t actually get a say as to what goes into their communty, this is one thing the APP would change.