Delays for new school, hall sale
The completion of a school building more than eight years in the making has been further delayed.
Lepperton Primary School was given $3.7 million government funding towards replacing leaky buildings in 2015 after an almost six-year wait, which was later topped up to $6.5 million for a complete rebuild. At the sod-turning ceremony in November 2017, the school was hoping to move in for the start of term four, which is today, but it will now be mid-December, board member Philip Macey told Friday’s Waitara Community Board meeting.
‘‘Hopefully by the middle of December we’ll be ready to move in and we can move in in the school break,’’ he said.
They will also need the final sign-off from the Ministry of Education, he said.
Macey, who is also on the board for the Lepperton Hall, said they had also had discussions with the council as a result of Lepperton residents’ concerns over lack of green space in the village.
The tender for the hall and site closed on the August 16 and was not successful. The sale of the hall will now likely be delayed until after the New Year.
Ian McCaul, who is chair of the school board and also on the Hall board, said the Ministry of Education was ‘‘very happy’’ to make a 900 square metre area in front of the school site, on the corner of Whitcombe St and Richmond Rd, as a community open space. ‘‘It’s far enough removed from the school for it not to be an issue.’’
They could not build on the land but they could landscape, add a playground or seats, he said.
However, Lepperton residents Steve Lepper and Bethany Hooper voiced their concerns about the proposal. ‘‘While we like the idea it is really part of the school area, not village area,’’ Hooper said. ‘‘It’s nice to be able to use it but it doesn’t negate the need for that green space on the other side of the road.’’
The community had also been offered land owned by Tegel, but that would only be leased.