Business
13 October, 2026
Accident waiting to happen: Hannan
Member for Wollondilly Judy Hannan described a new childcare centre on Eridge Park Road as an “accident waiting to happen”.
Member for Wollondilly Judy Hannan described a new childcare centre on Eridge Park Road as an “accident waiting to happen”.
The 72-place childcare centre at 52 Eridge Park Road, Burradoo was approved by the Wingecarribee Local Planning Panel in October last year, based on a recommendation from council staff.
This was despite numerous resident objections and a long history of accidents on Eridge Park Road, including fatalities.
Traffic experts say the development represents a “clear and extreme” risk to life.
Mrs Hannan recently spent time with residents outside 52 Eridge Park Road – where work on the new childcare centre is well underway – to observe peak traffic flows and has described what she saw as “deeply concerning”.
Those concerns relate to the number of vehicles using the road as well as speeding, traffic banking and restricted visibility. She called on the mayor, councillors and council traffic and road safety officers to undertake similar on-site observations and to ask themselves if they are satisfied “that young children and their families can safely enter and leave this location”.
Traffic experts and local residents have warned of ‘extreme’ safety risks if the childcare centre is allowed to operate and have called on Wingecarribee Shire Council and the NSW Government to intervene.
They have described Eridge Park Road as “notorious” and “one of the Southern Highlands’ most dangerous roads” and say the approval process was “flawed”.
An independent traffic report commissioned by residents and undertaken by McLaren Traffic Engineering and Road Safety Consultants shows the approval does not meet the Austroads ‘Safe System’ framework, which is applied by Transport for NSW as part of the NSW Government’s road safety requirements.
The report also shows:
• There will be “extreme risk” to human safety, especially adults with prams and small children on foot;
• Pedestrians will be unable to see vehicles approaching from the east and identify gaps to cross safely, due to a crest in the road;
• Crossing attempts will be all the more dangerous given that there are nearly 1000 vehicle movements per hour in peak periods, in a 70 kilometre-per-hour zone;
• The road environment is “extremely unforgiving” in regard to there being no shoulder or other escape for pedestrians or vehicles.
Despite the identified need for a safe pedestrian crossing by McLaren, no crossing facility formed part of the development application or was required as a condition of approval.
A separate report from McLaren has found numerous deficiencies and errors in the childcare centre applicant’s Traffic and Parking Impact Assessment (TPIA) provided to council to assess the proposal.
The report says:
• Incorrect information in the applicant’s traffic assessment may have misled council in its assessment of the proposal;
• Insufficient information was available to enable a proper assessment of the proposal’s impacts;
• No road safety assessment was included in the traffic and parking submission, meaning the crash history along the strip and site-specific and surrounding road impacts were not assessed – omissions that are contrary to New South Wales Government/Transport for NSW recommendations;
• Insufficient information was provided concerning mitigation measures, including road or access improvements, meaning these matters were not adequately assessed;
• There is a fundamental conflict between the site and the NSW Child Care Planning Guidelines, which caution against childcare sites on roads with high traffic volumes and high operating speeds, particularly where there are no pedestrian crossing facilities;
• The staff parking rate that has been relied upon - based on Greater Sydney and within 400 metres of a railway station - is not applicable to this regional site;
• There is incorrect information regarding kerbside parking, which is not permissible on the nature strip or the carriageway (which is a high traffic zone);
• There is no examination of potential traffic banking along Eridge Park Road;
• No assessment was undertaken of visibility motorists would have when approaching the centre, especially from the crest east of the drive access, or at the driveway access point;
• Impacts on surrounding residential amenity, including those associated with increased traffic, were not assessed.
Residents have described council’s response to the reports as not only brief and diversionary but “erroneous and insufficient”.
“By approving the childcare centre, the council forwent its opportunity to impose the costs of appropriate mitigation works on the applicant, which was in itself a considerable error, McLaren said.
“If no action is taken by the council to mitigate the impacts of the approved childcare centre it has failed in its duty to protect its constituents and ignored the clear and extreme risk to life which will result from the operation of the childcare centre.”
Many residents who objected to the proposal, primarily on safety grounds, feel that their concerns have been ignored.
“We all know childcare centres are important, but logic alone says putting one here is plain dangerous,” resident Daniel Udall said.
“Something’s gravely wrong when a large childcare centre is approved on a high-crash-risk strip with no pedestrian access, despite so many concerns from the community and traffic experts.
“A bus stop here was shut down not long ago after a bad incident,” Mr Udall said.
“It’s hard to keep count of other accidents and tragedies along this road.
“Efforts have been made to divert traffic off Eridge Park Road into quieter streets because of the dangers.
“All the red flags seem to have been overlooked, hence us calling for the approval process to be scrutinised.
“Our questions will be one thousand times louder if anyone is hurt or killed.”
Resident Adrian Preece said another area of concern was 80 or more parent and staff cars jostling to access and leave the site each day.
“It’s highly likely that traffic will bank out the centre drive, which will ask for accidents,” Mr Preece said.
“It’s astounding that a large childcare centre be approved on such a hectic no-stopping zone, with nowhere to pull over.
“No modelling has been done to examine the risks and impacts to Eridge Park Road and surrounding streets.
“It’s beyond obvious that this development will put lives at risk – the lives of young children, no less.”
Resident Aimee Preece said even a cursory online search showed the horrible history of accidents along the road, including fatalities.
“We invite the mayor, councillors and any other government stakeholder to stand with us during peak periods to see how dangerous things are,” Ms Preece said.
“Expecting any parent to cross the road with prams and small kids on foot is a death wish and the risks of accidents otherwise are through the roof.
“You don’t need expert reports to conclude that,” she said.
Wingecarribee Shire Council has agreed to place the matter on the agenda for the Local Transport Forum on October 28.
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