Councillors voted unanimously to decline a Ministry of Education (MoE) request to use all, or part of, a property at 516 Ladies Mile for a future high school.
However, the ministry still has the option to go through a compulsory acquisition process under the Public Works Act.
The council bought the 14.6ha property in February 2019, for just less than $14million, recognising it as a strategic investment, able to accommodate sports fields, recreational and community spaces and potentially park-and-ride or a transport hub.
Last month, it announced it had approved just over $3.6million to turn the existing house on the property into a community centre.
Simultaneously, the council had developed the Ladies Mile master plan, through which the preferred location for a future primary and secondary school was identified as the northern side of State Highway 6.
However, the Ministry identified 516 Ladies Mile as its preferred site and discussed co-location options with the council last June.
The council had concerns, in part because of "past experience of co-location of schools alongside council’s recreation community facilities, which often did not result in strong benefits or opportunities for the community".
In response to questions from the council, MoE said it could not rule out a public-private partnership, and while its construction could be brought forward earlier than the indicated 10 years, it would need to be prioritised nationally, but there could be agreements to secure terms and frequency of use so needs of the school and wider community were met.
At yesterday’s meeting, Cr Esther Whitehead said if a high school was to go on the council-owned land it would "make a farce" of the extensive master planning work done to date for the area. Cr Calum MacLeod said by declining MoE’s offer the council was not signalling a lack of desire to see a new primary and secondary school in the area.
"That’s vital, and their involvement’s vital. I’d encourage us to continue ... having conversations with the Ministry of Education to locate the schools [on the northern side], because that would give us the density, the co-location that we’re all swimming towards to try to get Ladies Mile ... solutions."
Cr Craig Ferguson said he was not prepared to "go anywhere near [MoE] on this issue in this place", and Cr Val Miller said it would be a "tragic shame" to lose the land the council purchased for future communities.
"I think it’s vital to retain council-owned land wherever we can and I feel that the Ministry is looking at this as an easy option, where there are plenty of other options they can take to build the necessary schools."
However, Cr Glyn Lewers said by rejecting the offer, council was giving up a "cash injection to provide other social infrastructure" and, to date, its "runs on the board in that arena, for that site, aren’t particularly overwhelming".
