Corio call for arts centre, not housing, on school site

Andrew Mathieson
A Corio group wants an arts centre rather than a housing subdivision after State Government closes Rosewall Primary School at the end of the year.
The Rosewall project support team has proposed to the Government a “creative community space” for the arts.
But the Education Department has warned that other government authorities would have first say on the site’s future.
Project team facilitator Sally Sudweeks feared the school building could be lost to the community.
“The school is an extraordinary and unique building,” she said.
“People want to use it as a creative hub.”
Ms Sudweeks said the team hoped to re-open the site in January after the school closed in December.
The team estimated that running the former school as a community arts centre would cost $15,000 a year, she said.
The team would ask Education Minister Bronwyn Pike to personally “intervene”.
The Education Department said a number of community groups had inquired about the school site.
A department spokesperson said the site would go through a “comprehensive process” before the Government reassigned another use.
“Where sites are found to be surplus to requirements, they will be sold in accordance with government policy, which includes offering the sites to other government departments first and then to the local council,” the spokesperson said.
“If there is no interest, the land is offered for sale by public auction or public tender.”