EGLINTON Public School students will no longer have to attend assemblies in shifts if Labor wins government this month, the party's local candidate Beau Riley said on Monday morning.
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Mr Riley held a press conference outside the school to announce a commitment from NSW Labor to spend $2.5 million to build a new hall to accommodate 600 students - enough to cater for years of growth.
And he took the opportunity to play a couple of other cards in what Labor sees as its strong suit, reaffirming that he would make a new high school for Bathurst a priority if he was elected and wondering aloud about the NSW Government's plan to put aside land for a future expansion of Eglinton Public.
Mr Riley said he had doorknocked in the area and parents had told him Eglinton Public, which has 480 students, is bursting at the seams as land around the village is opened up for housing.
"The ageing Eglinton hall must currently be used on shifts because it is unable to accommodate the whole school," he said.
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He said Labor's $2.5m would build a hall "that the whole school community can use every day for assemblies, presentations, school plays and performances and local events".
Mr Riley said the current hall was cold in the winter and hot in the summer, but the new hall would be more comfortable for students.
He said work would start as soon as possible if Labor won the election and the project would go ahead whether or not he won the seat of Bathurst.
The Labor candidate also asked why there had been so little progress on putting aside land for a future expansion of Eglinton Public.
The Department of Education confirmed late last year that it was in negotiations to buy a vacant block of land behind the school to allow for it to grow.
Mr Riley said on Monday morning that there was still no news on the progress on the sale of the land and wondered whether it was something that Member for Bathurst Paul Toole was "actively trying to achieve".
