Long day childcare

Brenbeal Children’s Centre

The Brenbeal Children’s Centre is a long day childcare centre.

Table 25: Brenbeal Children’s Centre Site and Building Assessment

Site size

Year built

Building condition

Building fit for purpose

Opportunity for expansion

1,476m2

1994

Average

Yes, however single purpose sites are not preferred Yes: • Council owned space adjacent to the site could be utilised • Potential to add sessional kindergarten and maternal and child health to this site.

Bulldog’s Community Children’s Centre

The Bulldog’s Community Children’s Centre was constructed by the Western Bulldogs on Council owned land under a 15-year lease arrangement. The facility will revert to Council ownership in 2024. The single-room maternal and child health service on this site is currently operating above the preferred capacity.

Table 26: Bulldog’s Community Children’s Centre Site and Building Assessment

Site size

Year built

Building condition

Building fit for purpose

7,384m2

2010

Good

Partial: • Single M&CH room is not preferred model and room is too small with no waiting area

Opportunity for expansion

Limited: • Western Bulldogs are undertaking a masterplan of the site. Service provision may be compromised in the future.

West Footscray Library and Neighbourhood House

The West Footscray Library and Neighbourhood House has a licenced space that is currently utilised for occasional childcare and activity groups. This program is run by the West Footscray Neighbourhood House.

Table 27: West Footscray Library and Neighbourhood House Site and Building Assessment

Site size

Year built

Building condition

Building fit for purpose

Opportunity for expansion

628m2

2006

Excellent

Potentially fit for an overflow sessional kindergarten service No. Site is developed to full capacity

Comments

Maternal and child health

At present, the Central Neighbourhood has a surplus of maternal and child health rooms out to 2041. However, there is some uncertainty about the long term viability and suitability of the room at the Bulldogs Community Children’s Centre. It may be appropriate, therefore, to include the provision of two maternal and child health rooms as part of a future redevelopment/expansion/replacement of another site in the Central neignbourhood.

Sessional kindergarten

With subsidised kindergarten for three-year-olds commencing in 2022, additional capacity will be required by 2026. A redevelopment/expansion of an existing site to include two additional sessional kindergarten rooms will be required.

Long day childcare

With the opening of the new Church Street Children’s Centre and the Bulldogs Community Children’s Centre reverting to Council in 2024, long day childcare services (Council owned buildings) are adequately catered for. Capacity shortages are forecast, however, for private long day childcare. This will need to be monitored for impact on demand for Council long day care services.

Development sites

The current Footscray Hospital site will become vacant once the hospital is relocated to its new location on Ballarat Road in 2025. Planning is underway to determine the future use of the site.

Recommendations

That Council:

• Undertake a feasibility study, in 2023/24, to consider the appropriate site for development / expansion / relocation to cater for the forecast increase in demand by 2027.

• Continue to liaise with Western Bulldogs Football Club in relation to the handing back of the Bulldogs Children’s Centre to Council in 2024 in recognition of

Western Bulldogs long term planning for the precinct.

East Neighbourhood

The East Neighbourhood is one of the more disadvantaged areas in the municipality, falling within the 25th SEIFA percentile Australia-wide (compared with the City of Maribyrnong position of the 42nd SEIFA percentile). Between 2020 and 2041, the early years population cohort is expected to increase significantly by 226%.

The East Neighbourhood has three Council owned early years facilities.

Table 28: Council owned facilities in the East Neighbourhood

Facility name

Angliss Children’s Centre

Maribyrnong City Council (Town Hall)

Saltwater Child Care Centre

Sessional kindergarten MCH LDC Other

Yes Yes Yes

Yes

Yes

In addition, there are three private, long day childcare centres - Victoria University Footscray Nicholson, 11-13 Picket Street, Footscray (planning approval only), and 2 Neilson Place, Footscray (planning approval only).

Figure 4 shows the location of the early years facilities in the East Neighbourhood.

Figure 4: Early years facilities in the East Neighbourhood

Service Type

C Long day childcare K Kindergarten M Maternal and child Health O Occasional childcare / other service CX Future long day childcare (with permit)

Ownership

Not-for-profit

Council

Private

The following tables compare the level of supply for the early years services (i.e. maternal and child health, three and four-year-old sessional kindergarten, and long day childcare) and the anticipated demand levels based on population forecasts, and the assumptions set out in Table 18.

Maternal and child health

Table 29: Maternal and child health supply and demand - East Neighbourhood

Supply - MCH rooms

2020 2023 2026 2031 2036 2041

3 3 3 3 3 3

Demand - MCH rooms per 120 projected births 1.1 1.7 2.2 2.7 3.1 3.4

Relationship to Benchmark Provision +1.9 +1.3 +0.8 +0.3 -0.1 -0.4

Three and Four-Year-Old Sessional Kindergarten

Table 30: Sessional kindergarten supply and demand - Central Neighbourhood

Table 31: Long day childcare supply and demand – East Neighbourhood

2020 2023 2026 2031 2036 2041

Supply - total places 30 30 30 30 30 30

Demand - 0.63 places per projected 3yo* 0 39 77 153 179 198

Demand - 0.63 places per projected 4yo* 37 64 87 127 150 167

Relationship to Benchmark Provision -7 -73 -133 -250 -299 -335

Note: *As subsidised 3yo kinder does not begin until 2022, demand in 2019 has been listed as 0. Also the rate of demand for 3yo kinder has been assessed to rise from 0.2 places per 3yo in 2020 to reach 0.63 places per 3yo in 2031.

Long day childcare

2020 2023 2026 2031 2036 2041

Supply - Council places

Supply - non-Council places

Supply - Total places

99 99 99 99 99 99

39 39 39 39 39 39

138 138 138 138 138 138

Demand - 1 place per 3.07 children aged 0-4 184 263 358 475 542 599

Relationship to Benchmark Provision - Council places (33% of demand) +38 +12 -19 -58 -80 -99

Relationship to Benchmark Provision - non-Council places (67% of demand) -84 -137 -201 -279 -324 -363

Note: *Supply excludes facilities that have planning approval but have not yet commenced construction.

Council facilities

Angliss Children’s Centre

The Angliss Children’s Centre is a long day childcare centre and a single maternal and child health room. The Centre offers both integrated and sessional kindergarten in the one room.

Table 32: Angliss Children’s Centre Site and Building Assessment

Site size

Year built

Building condition

Building fit for purpose

Opportunity for expansion

1,501m2

1989

Average

Partial: • Single M&CH room is not preferred model.

Limited: • Investigation would need to occur in to the opportunity to build a second level.

Maribyrnong City Council (Town Hall)

The Maribyrnong City Council (Town Hall) has two maternal and child health rooms.

Table 33: Town Hall Site and Building Assessment

Site size

Year built

Building condition

Building fit for purpose

Opportunity for expansion

8,654m2

1988

Average

Yes: • However, the location does not support a suitable service provision model. Ideally would be matched with another early years service.

No: • Already part of a multi-purpose building that would not be suitable for expansion.

Saltwater Child Care Centre

The Saltwater Child Care Centre is a long day childcare centre.

Table 34: Saltwater Child Care Centre Site and Building Assessment

Site size

Year built

Building condition

Building fit for purpose

Opportunity for expansion

1,389m2

1980

Average

No: • Site is single service and only offers 46 places of long day childcare. It is likely to be too small to sustain in the medium term considering that the building is 40 years old.

Limited: • Site is small and location adjacent to future Footscray

Hospital site (over Geelong Road) is likely to create difficulties with future access.

Comments

Maternal and child health

The existing facilities are sufficient to cope with the forecast level of demand. The Maribyrnong Town Hall facility though is located within an office setting that is not conducive to efficient and effective service provision. The town hall building is also subject to assessment for redevelopment. There is potential for the maternal and child health service to be relocated as part of a potential redevelopment at an alternate site.

Sessional kindergarten

With the closure of the Hyde Street Kindergarten, only 30 places of sessional kindergarten are currently available in the East Neighbourhood. To accommodate the demand for places that is forecast due to population growth and subsidised three-year-old kindergarten, a two room facility is required as soon as possible, followed by an additional two rooms by 2026, with a further two rooms required by 2033.

Long day childcare

The two, Council owned, long day childcare facilities are located close together and are well utilised. Their capacities, however, are below what is considered to be a viable size and they may struggle financially over coming years. Additional long day childcare capacity is required immediately due to the lack of private facilities in the neighbourhood.

Development sites

The East Neighbourhood has major development sites at Joseph Road and the former Kinnear’s Ropeworks. The sites are major contributors to the neighbourhood’s anticipated population growth and provide opportunities for the location of new early years facilities.

Recommendations

That Council:

• Work with Victorian School Building Authority to complete the development of Hyde Street Early Learning Centre project. Refer approx. $4m to Council’s capital budgeting process for 2021/22 to contribute to the project.

• Undertake a feasibility study, in 2022/23, of the options available to provide a preferred model early years facility by 2026.