Dozens of former schools across Victoria are being prepared for sale on the open market, but planning experts warn the state government may soon have to buy back nearby land at higher prices as more people move to the regions.
Associate professor Ian McShane, from RMIT’s Centre for Urban Research, at a Castlemaine school site being prepared for sale.The list includes agricultural land, former police stations, former plantations and other vacant sites. But disused schools, mostly located in regional Victoria, account for about a quarter of the properties.
Some of the former schools are located in areas such as Geelong, Bendigo and Castlemaine that are experiencing increased demand for residential property as many MelburniansThere are at least five disused schools in and around Bendigo that are being prepared for sale, three in Colac Otway Shire and two each in the Geelong region and Mount Alexander Shire.
He said many communities had an emotional attachment to schools, but leaving them vacant and vulnerable to vandalism and neglect was also a “poor outcome”.Monash University senior researcher in urban planning and design Liz Taylor said recent history in inner Melbourne showed schools were later needed in the places where they were closed in the 1990s.“If there is an increase in population it’s going to be more expensive and time-consuming to buy it back later,” Dr Taylor said.
The state opposition calling it 'the sale of the century' That's a bit rich, most of this rural and regional land is unused because of Jeffrey Kennett's government.
Sell everything