Old TAFE campus on Ridgeway Ave at Southport costing region $500,000 each year
Hundreds of thousands in taxpayer cash is being spent on derelict buildings, on a prime development site, because Gold Coast City Council and the State Government can’t decide who should own it.
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TAXPAYERS are coughing up $500,000 a year on derelict buildings at a prime spot in Southport because the Gold Coast City Council and State Government cannot work out who should own it.
More than 400 residents have signed a petition for the old TAFE Campus on Ridgeway Ave to be gifted to the city.
The State Government says no-one wants the site in its present form. The Gold Coast City Council says it “has not received an offer”.
The run-down campus, which costs $500,000 annually for security and maintenance, was earmarked for sale under the Newman Government but saved by community pressure. The debate of whether the site should be sold privately started in 2007, five years before the campus officially closed.
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The site has sat idle for eight years.
Minister for Training and Skills Development Shannon Fentiman said her department had engaged a number of organisations, including the Gold Coast City Council, to take over the site “but none of these have been successful”.
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The State Government is considering other options.
Member for Southport Rob Molhoek, who sponsored the latest petition, said gifting the land to the council made sense, as it would give the public the opportunity to access the property and the parkland.
Petition leader Judith de Boer said she was positive the property should be preserved as a community space.
“Because the property has been allowed to deteriorate so much we know it is going to cost to make it workable, but we are looking ahead for the next 100 years.” she said.
“We know this is a community that is going to become more dense with the buildings in the areas so the land is invaluable.
“I don’t care if the site is mothballed for a few years until council comes up with a plan for it. Future generations will be hungry for the space.”
Ms de Boer said she had been trying for close to a decade to get resolution on the space. In that time the group had met with the Premier twice, she said.
The group of residents pushing for the change also includes council divisional candidate Brooke Patterson.
“I have been involved in this group for a few years now,” she said. “I would be calling on the State Government to gift the land council and for council to take on management and open it to the public space.”
Ms Fentiman is set to meet with the community group in coming weeks to determine medium to long-term outcomes.
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