This school has a pool, tennis courts, soccer and cricket pitches. Now it wants the nearby public park

A plan for an exclusive all-boys school to lease public parkland in exchange for upgrading the park’s facilities has split the community and sparked concerns it would lock up public land for private use.

Brighton Grammar School has applied to Bayside City Council for a lease on Wilson Recreation Reserve, which stretches across 1.7 hectares opposite the school and is one of the few areas of open parkland in Brighton.

The school says the deal would benefit both the school and Bayside residents, but opponents are concerned locals will be locked out of public land.

Brighton Grammar also wants to buy a public road, Young Street, off the council and has submitted planning applications for lighting on its tennis courts and increased operation of its gym.

School parents and Brighton Grammar old boys who back the parkland takeover have been sending pro forma emails to Bayside Council urging it to support the school’s application for a lease.

“Brighton Grammar School has proposed funding the upgrade of Wilson Reserve at no cost to Bayside ratepayers,” the email states. “Importantly, the community will continue to enjoy the same access to the reserve that it has today. The proposed lease arrangement simply provides the school with certainty that its students will continue to be able to utilise the facility into the future.”

The email states that Brighton Grammar’s proposal will deliver a safer, higher-quality playing surface for all users while removing the financial burden from the council and taxpayers.

Brighton Grammar students already use Wilson Recreation Reserve for rugby and cricket and as an overflow area for students to play on at lunchtime during the term.

The school has had its sights set on a more formal claim to the reserve for years and put forward a similar proposal in 2020 for a 21-year lease over the reserve at a “peppercorn rate” if it invested $2 million in upgrading the facilities.

Under the previous proposal, the school would get exclusive access to the reserve at lunchtime all year, from 3.30pm to 5.30pm Monday to Thursday, and every Saturday, 8am to 2pm, from April to September.

Bayside Council gave Brighton Grammar the go-ahead to develop a plan for a new pavilion at Wilson Reserve at the time, but the school withdrew its application.

Brighton Grammar would not provide details of how long the lease would run under its new proposal, how much the school would pay for the use of the public land and what the upgrade of the reserve would entail.

The school also wants to acquire Young Street, which leads into its junior school campus.

The email to the council says Young Street would be used as “a modest recreational and open space enhancement, not a traffic access point”.