A "pop-up" primary school for 300 children at Wentworth Park in Ultimo will escape environmental scrutiny, despite the discovery of lead contamination at the site and the takeover of public recreation space.
The Department of Education is seeking to fast-track the proposal to build the primary school on a site which straddles the Wentworth Park greyhound racing complex and the public park.
The department argues it takes up 5 per cent of the overall space, and organised sport won't be impacted.
The temporary school will be in the park until December 2019, as Ultimo Public School is demolished and rebuilt as a high-rise for 800 students to cater to booming inner city enrolments.
But Greens MP David Shoebridge said the department was bypassing external planning approval for the controversial proposal, which was opposed by parent groups.
"This means they can cut down the trees, fence off the park and build a school all without even getting development approval. [The department] marks its own homework," he said.
Mr Shoebridge said the department was using the Part Five process, in which a public authority conducts its own assessment.
Several trees have been earmarked for felling.
A "lead hot spot" has been identified beneath the proposed school site, according to a Human Health Risk Assessment conducted for the education department by Environmental Risk Sciences.
The report dated August 30 found a lead sample "significantly exceeding the guideline" for potential exposure of primary school students, but said the hot spot would be beneath decking.
The department's Risk Assessment concluded the site was suitable for a school if the soil remained inaccessible to children, and it was likely that synthetic turf, soft fall or paved material will be used to cover the soil.
Mr Shoebridge expressed concern "there won't be any external scrutiny of contamination issues".
William D'Anthes said the Ultimo P&C was waiting for the department to address the lead contamination issue at Wentworth Park. He said the advice that soil won't be excavated "can't be totally correct" because of the need to disturb the soil to put in footings for the buildings.
Elizabeth Elenius, Convenor of Pyrmont Action Inc, said the Baird Government should defer any decision on the temporary school until a NSW upper house inquiry has handed down its recommendations.
"Before the election, they promised to build the school on a much larger site owned by the City of Sydney. After the election, they did a big backflip and decided to demolish the school and put the kids in demountables for years," she said.
"The community and the P&C are utterly opposed to this."
Kevin Langdon, the president of the Ultimo Public School P&C, said: ""It's just ironic that it was too contaminated to put up a basketball court. The Wentworth Park Trust deemed it too contaminated, but it's fine to build a school there. "But there are also other alternatives for the pop-up school that are less convenient. This is a bit of a win because it's difficult to get a school pop-up on parkland."
The upper house inquiry into the controversial Ultimo School redevelopment has received 65 submissions, and will hold hearings in November.
Mr Shoebridge said it was "deeply frustrating" that the department was fast-tracking the temporary school, a week after the closing date for inquiry submissions.
The Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli, reneged on a deal with the City of Sydney to purchase another site, known as the Wattle Street Depot, to accommodate a 1000-student school in 2015.
The high cost to decontaminate the Wattle Street Depot site was blamed by Mr Piccoli for the decision to end negotiations.
Mr D'Anthes said the education department was repeating the same mistakes it had made in the past, by failing to plan for future population growth.
"The community does not want this to happen," he said.
Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair told NSW Parliament this week that there is no plan to sell or develop Wentworth Park for commercial or residential use.
