Manningham Council is seeking community feedback on a proposal to rebuild an expanded Gum Nut Gully Preschool at a new nearby location in Doncaster East.

The current preschool building in Larnoo Drive is reaching its end of life and is unable to expand to provide more places for local families.

“The much-loved Gum Nut Gully Preschool has been part of our community for almost 40 years,” Manningham Mayor Deirdre Diamante said.

“We value the unique services like the bush kinder program and want to ensure the preschool can continue providing local children with quality early years education for many more years to come.”

Council has received Victorian Government funding through the Building Blocks program to build a new modular two-room preschool with places for 66 children in 3 and 4-year-old kinder programs.

However, investigations have found the modular preschool cannot be built at the existing location without significant impact on trees and vegetation. Challenging site conditions also make the project unviable.  

Corsican Reserve, 400m away in Corsican Avenue, has been identified as the most suitable nearby location. Manningham Council is inviting feedback on this proposal and no decision has yet been made. Under the proposal, the existing Larnoo Drive site would be retained for community use.

“We want to support local families by providing them access to more free kinder places locally as well as replace the ageing facility,” Cr Diamante said.

“There are many important considerations, and we want to hear what the community has to say before making any decisions about this proposal,” Cr Diamante said.

The proposal is open for community feedback until 11:59pm, Tuesday 2 September at Your Say Manningham.