Council
11 November, 2025
Childcare traffic fears
A NEW childcare facility has been approved by Somerset Council for Settlers Rise at Woolmar, as concerns of local residents persist over increased traffic in the area.
By Marina Gomide
A NEW childcare facility has been approved by Somerset Council for Settlers Rise at Woolmar, as concerns of local residents persist over increased traffic in the area.
The 700sqm facility will be located at the entrance of Hedley Park Estate, opposite the new GemLife facility, and could cater for up to 79 children with five childcare rooms, outdoor play areas, acoustic barriers and 18 carparks.
The approval comes after The Sentinel reported residents’ calls for road upgrades due to three major developments - the GemLife project, childcare centre and expanding housing estate - near or along Hedley Drive, the estate’s only access road connecting to the D’Aguilar Highway via Showgrounds Road.
Residents fear traffic will worsen as constructions continues and the projects are open, and are calling on Council to build another access road to the area.
The Council approval followed an updated Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) for the childcare centre, which specifically addressed the community’s concerns about rising traffic.
The childcare centre’s TIA had to include the traffic volumes from the large approved developments nearby: the Hedley Park Estate (which will eventually total 543 homes) and the GemLife Retirement Village (276 units).
The TIA calculated that by 2036, the Hedley Park Estate alone would generate 315 extra vehicle trips during the morning rush hour.
Despite the increased future traffic volume, the traffic study concluded that the local road network could cope.
The report showed that delays at the Hedley Drive/Settlers Rise/Travellers Rest roundabout (which handles all local traffic, including the GemLife access) would remain very low, peaking at only 10.1 seconds on average in the busiest periods.
In its analysis of the D’Aguilar Highway intersection (Esk Kilcoy Road/Showgrounds Road), the safety assessment stated the intersection has historically been dangerous, accounting for all 10 reported crashes in the area between 2009 and 2025.
However, the TIA found that the small increase in traffic from the new childcare centre does not raise the overall safety risk above the “Medium” rating, meaning no specific road safety changes are required at the intersection due to this development.
The report did find that the addition of the new centre’s traffic would increase overall vehicle delay at the D’Aguilar Highway intersection by 6.4 per cent, which slightly exceeded the industry guideline threshold of 5 per cent.
This increase was deemed acceptable because the intersection is still operating well below its maximum capacity.
Furthermore, the impact is expected to lessen after 2028, when a second approved access to the Hedley Park Estate (via D’Aguilar Highway / Highwood Lane) starts operating and diverts some of the residential traffic away from the main intersection.
To address noise for neighbouring residents, the approval is subject to strict acoustic conditions.
These include requirements for the construction of specific acoustic barriers, which must be built using materials with a minimum density of 10kg per square metre and must not use Colorbond fencing.
Operational hours for the outdoor areas are also tightly controlled: Outdoor play, deliveries, and staff use of the outdoor breakout area are all restricted to the daytime period of 7:00 am to 6:00 pm
Somerset Mayor Jason Wendt said Council “look forward” to seeing the childcare centre “up and running”.
“Having additional childcare options means our young families have more flexibility so they can live and work in Somerset,” he said.
To read the full TIA visit https://eservices.somerset.qld.gov.au/propres2.asp?lp=1SP199004
