LOCAL State members visited Scott’s Farm at Ripley on Friday just before the results of a review into the need for a school on the land approaches.

Member for Ipswich Jennifer Howard and Member for Bundamba Lance McCallum said in a joint statement: “We visited Scott’s Farm and found it to be a truly unique part of the Ripley community that holds significant heritage and environmental value.

“The Scott family and members of the community have a deep connection to the farm and are rightly proud of its long, rich history.

“We’ve conveyed to [State Development and Infrastructure] Minister Grace Grace the concerns the Scott family has about the proposed primary school on its land and the importance of preserving Scott’s Farm as a cherished and historic part of the Ripley community.

“We’re very pleased to see that the Minister has asked the Department of Education and Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) to undertake a review to decide if the proposed primary school is required and whether there are any other suitable locations for it.”

Ms Grace recently responded to the thousands of people who petitioned the government against the building of the school on the farm.

She wrote: “I expect to have the results of this review for my consideration by the end of July, and at that point I will be able to decide whether a change to the infrastructure planning for the Ripley Valley Priority Development Area can be accommodated.”

Sekisui House originally paid the State Government to build a school anywhere else but on its 12,000 homes estate.

The conditions on development Sekisui’s application DEV2012/235 allowed for the Infrastructure Charging Offset Plan (ICOP) [now replaced with Development Charges and Offset Plan (DCOP)] to void EDQ Guideline 11 for community facilities.

Belinda Lowe, daughter of family patriarch John Scott, said she would have liked the local state MPs to have been more vocal.

“I had hoped Jennifer and Lance might have stood up in parliament and raised our issue,” she said.

“They could have said, ‘listen, this is of importance to my constituents, Scott’s Farm is worth saving’.”

The farm is a refuge area for birds, koalas, kangaroos, sugar gliders possums and koalas and provides a safe corridor for wildlife displaced by housing development.

The family has owned the farm since 1893 and shared it with the community for events, functions, and celebrations.