A dispute over a gate at Melbourne’s Alphington Grammar has reignited, as the school community challenges a proposed $403,000 road upgrade they argue offers no real benefit to locals.
At the centre of the issue is a gate across Old Heidelberg Road, which provides access to the Darebin Creek trail. The gate has long been kept closed to the public during and after school hours, with access limited to students and staff for safety and security reasons.
The City of Yarra has reaffirmed its 2020 decision ordering Alphington Grammar to remove the gate, which stands on council land historically understood to fall within the school’s operational boundaries.
Council claims the school built the gate without formal approval, following complaints from residents who say it blocks access to the creek and bike trail.
In 2022, the matter gained wider public attention after the council called for full public access to the area and more than 3,000 people signed a petition opposing the gate’s removal.
In response, Alphington Grammar — which is owned by the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM)— installed a new fence within the official school boundary.
While the fence remains on private property, it continues to prevent direct access to the creek from Old Heidelberg Road. The road is a no-through road that has no exit points for vehicles.
Despite this, on June 17, Yarra Council voted to allocate funds in its 2025–2026 annual budget to remove the existing gate, resurface the road, and add a pedestrian crossing.
However, there is no breakdown of the cost of removing the gate, nor any transparency around an additional proposed playground at the site.
Mayor Stephen Jolly acknowledged councillors can overturn previous decisions but stood by the ruling on the gate.
“I for one will definitely not be moving to change it.”… “You should lobby the nine councillors … before the September deadline,” Jolly said during a council meeting.
The school community, including parents and supporters, continue to argue the upgrade is unnecessary and that the gate helps protect students’ safety.
Year 12 student and Vice-Captain at the school George Tsianakas penned a letter, which was published by Neos Kosmos on June 30, calling for council to reconsider the safety risks.
“I walk through the gates on Old Heidelberg Road every day. I cross between classrooms alongside students as young as three. That gate isn’t just a structure—it’s a promise of safety. I’m writing to ask you, urgently, to help us keep that promise and protect all students from unnecessary vehicle access,” he said.
He asked that the council halt plans and that the State Government helps find a solution that respects public access and child safety.
Following the council meeting, in a letter to parents and parent liaisons, Principal Vivianne Nikou said the school has offered safe solutions and stressed they continue to provide pedestrian access to everything the public are entitled to access.
“As a school, we are approaching local ministers who have the power to intervene and, with road engineers and lawyers, the parent, staff and student voice is crucial,” she said.
“If we are to have any effect on a council that is unethical in its execution of decisions which impact and endanger the safety of our students and the wider school community, we need a united approach.”
A Yarra City Council spokesperson told Neos Kosmos that when this was consulted on in 2021, majority of locals were all for it.
“We received more than 360 submissions when we consulted on this issue four years ago and all bar 14 were supportive of removing the fence,” they said.
“Locals overwhelmingly told us that the fence prevented them from using public open space, particularly the bike track on the Darebin Creek Trail.”
They added that many schools across Melbourne have campuses that cross public land, and they have come up with solutions to address that without blocking access to public space.
“In its simplest form, the fence has been constructed on public land. Legal advice settled this matter some years ago.
“The fence quarantines land that belongs to all the community, not the school.”
School Council Chair Michael Karamitos said the school understands they don’t own the old road but there are other bigger concerns.
“It’s very disappointing because look, what’s most important for us is the safety of the children during school hours,” he told Neos Kosmos.
“The road that they’re proposing to resurface and knock down the gates, leads to nowhere. It has no purpose.
“Even before the Greek community purchased the school when it was Parade College, it was an old gate, so what we did, we modernised it as a school.”
He said what concerns them, if the gate is removed, is that there’s potential for an accident to occur in the future.
“Child safety is paramount and that’s what our major concern is, but unfortunately with council, they’re not listening,” he said.
“We’ve been there. We’ve obviously had a discussion. They dismissed us.”
He shared that the Greek community did offer to purchase the road but Yarra City knocked them back, even though they previously did offer to sell it to them years ago. That was under a previous council though.
The school did turn it down back then but as Karamitos explained, that was because they never envisioned the gate and fence being knocked down.
He also encourages not just the Greek and school community, but the broader community to “fight this fight”.
A petition on change.org has also been made, called ‘Protect the students and staff of Alphington Grammar School’, which has over 3700 signatures to date.
Neos Kosmos will continue to follow this story and provide updates.
