Page 1315 - Week 05 - Thursday, 31 May 2007
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There will also be some sites that will not be part of either stage of the consultation process; for example, where they have been identified for government or community need, such as the Causeway preschool, which was transferred to the Department of Disability and Community Services for community education programs. In relation to the Page and Isabella Plains preschools, the government will defer any long-term decision on future use, noting their close proximity to planned preschool to year 2 schools. In the interim and following their closure in 2007 and 2008 respectively, the sites will remain available for short-term tenanting.
The Department of Education and Training has significant human resources activity at Higgins primary school. Accordingly, the government will reconsider this school and the attached Higgins preschool site closer to their closure dates of December 2008. This will enable an evaluation as to whether the school should be retained in whole or in part for government use.
I can also advise that the two-stage consultation process will include the former Downer and North Curtin primary schools which closed some years ago. While these sites are already tenanted, the government recognises they are in prime locations and should also be the subject of review and consideration concerning their long-term future use. This is particularly pertinent for the North Curtin site, given the government’s previously-announced decision to move the emergency services authority to a new consolidated headquarters site, in line with the McLeod report recommendation.
In stage 2, the government will seek the community’s views about which of the potential future uses identified during stage 1 would best suit each site. This will be done by the independent consultant conducting community forums at both a regional level and in each of the suburbs/towns for the remaining schools or preschools that have closed or will be closed. The government will use the outcomes of the community consultation process to determine how these properties can best be utilised. The government intends to announce the outcomes by early 2008.
So far, the government has developed four broad options for possible future uses of the sites, and these will be used to help guide both stages of the consultation process. I would like to assure the Assembly that the government recognises that these options are not exhaustive, not exhaustive by any means, and that the community will be encouraged to suggest any additional options that they can think of during the first stage of the community consultation forums.
In terms of the options developed for testing so far, the first is for the government to retain the school buildings for community use and convert the surrounding grounds into urban open space. The second option is for the government to retain the school buildings for community use, develop part of the rest of the site and make the remainder of the site converted to urban open space. The third option is that the government retain some of the school building or buildings for community use, with the remainder of the building or buildings to be included with some of the site which would be developed for aged care housing or other uses and the remainder of the site converted to urban open space. The fourth and currently final option would be to completely redevelop the sites.
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