School is surplus 18 years after closure
School bells have not rung at Hamilton’s Richmond Park School for more than 18 years.
The classrooms have been empty and abandoned since January 2005 when the number of children on the roll dropped below 80 and it wasn’t considered viable.
But taxpayers continued to pay hundreds of thousands for its maintenance – with some classrooms used for other educational purposes – while the Ministry of Education considered the site’s future.
It has now been deemed surplus to education requirements and, after some final construction works, will be offered back to Waikato-Tainui.
One block of classrooms, however, would stay in use as a kō hanga reo (kindergarten with lessons in te reo Mā ori), a Ministry of Education spokesperson said.
On the corner of Bader St and Pine Ave, Richmond Park School was once home to 200 children from the neighbouring Bader and Melville suburbs.
There were no signs of life at the school during a weekday visit. A fence with padlocked gates surrounded the grounds but a missing panel and gap in the barrier rendered it redundant.
While the grass had been mowed, the gardens were overgrown, with trees climbing up the sides of once-used classrooms.
A handful of broken panes on doors and windows were boarded
over, with green sections of exterior paint chipped and peeling.
Aluminium guttering had detached from one of the tiredlooking classrooms, hanging off precariously.
When asked about why the site had been sitting empty for so long, Ministry of Education hautū Te Tai Whenua (central deputy secretary) Jocelyn Mikaere said it had been used for ‘‘a variety of education purposes and other initiatives’’, including two
kōhanga reo since the school’s closure.
Te Kō hanga Reo o Te Rapa previously used the school’s facilities, but closed on December 20 in 2020, as did Te Kōhanga Reo o Whanaungatanga, which closed on January 21 in 2022.
Land Information New Zealand took over management of the land surplus to the Ministry of Education’s requirements in 2018, and its property manager Annie Visan said there were no plans to demolish any of the buildings.
Instead, it was preparing to install power, water and drainage to both the surplus part of the property and that being kept for the kō hanga reo.
‘‘Once this is complete the property will be offered to Waikato-Tainui under its Right of First Refusal.’’
Visan was unable to give an idea of when this would happen because the scope of works were still being finalised.
Waikato-Tainui would be offered 1.7340ha of land, that contained three main buildings – a classroom block, library building and hall.
It also included a small swimming pool and changing shed.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for the site’s upkeep.
It forked out for rates, water rates, alarm monitoring, security patrols and call-outs, repairs and maintenance, electricity and vandalism repairs.
In an Official Information Act response, it said there were only records of expenditure between 2013 and 2018.
But, during that five-year period they spent $224,189.10 on the vacant school and its site.
There was $8981.14 spent on rates, with another $9179.12 on water rates.
Alarm monitoring cost $1445, with $134,244.31 spent on security patrols and call-outs.
It forked out $35,870.17 on repairs and maintenance and $6755.23 on electricity, with an extra $2074.82 on miscellaneous things.
They also spent $512.10 on vandalism repairs and $25,127.21 on ground maintenance.
Between 2005 and 2013 the site was managed by Hamilton Girls’ High School as an Alternative Education provider and Land Information New Zealand then took over management of the site in 2018.
Waikato-Tainui did not respond to a request for comment before deadline.