Jacksons Hill purchase by State Government greeted with caution

NEWS the sprawling Jacksons Hill site will be acquired by the State Government has been met with caution in Sunbury.

The Victoria University site in Jacksons Hill, Sunbury.

• $10.8m for Sunbury & Macedon Ranges Specialist School
• Boilerhouse Theatre homeless over safety issues
• Groups anxious ahead of Jacksons Hill future
• Community has say on future of Jacksons Hill
• Schools, housing part of Jacksons Hill Masterplan

NEWS the sprawling Jacksons Hill site will be acquired by the State Government has been met with caution in Sunbury.

The move was announced in yesterday’s state budget.

While the cost and schedule of the acquirement has yet to be laid out, the budget contained costed items linked to the project.

The government will spend $3 million towards a Hume Council-run arts and cultural precinct, which includes the Boilerhouse.

Another $10.8 million will redevelop former Caloola asylum buildings at the rear of the Sunbury and Macedon Ranges Specialist School.

There is also $3.5 million to go to the Sunbury Primary School, another site on the former asylum layout.

Sunbury Primary School.

But the practical application of the controversial draft Jacksons Hill masterplan, in a future government-owned site, is a sticking point for some.

Sunbury Residents Association president Peter Free said Sunbury submitters to the masterplan process had been unequivocal they didn’t want residential development on Jacksons Hill.

A new secondary college at the foot of the site was also inconsistent for future growth in Sunbury, he said.

“No one wants housing there, but that now looks likely and a new school is great, but it’s a long way from the people in Sunbury South and Lancefield Rd which is where the expansion’s going,” he said.

“What the government has told us now is thin on detail — what’s happening in the inner circle where most of the buildings are?”

Sunbury Residents Association president Peter Free at the former Victoria University site in Sunbury. Picture: Ellen Smith

Sunbury councillor Jack Medcraft said he wanted to see plans.

“Getting VU out of there is a win,” he said.

“They ran it to the ground and failed in their duty of care.”

Cr Medcraft said he’d like to see a training hospital on the balance of the site.

Sunbury state Labor MP Josh Bull used his facebook page to confirm the masterplan was set to be enacted.

“I committed to work closely with the community to find new opportunities for the Victoria University site on Jacksons Hill,” he said.

“I’ve listened and we are in the final stages of finishing the sites’ masterplan, a masterplan that was shaped and lead by the community.

“I am thrilled to confirm that in today’s Andrews’ Labor Government Budget we confirmed we are taking decisive action to acquire the site, allowing us to enact the masterplan.”

The Boilerhouse Theatre group based at the site. Picture: Adam Elwood

JACKSONS HILL DRAFT MASTERPLAN

Up to 200 lots are proposed to be developed into housing under the Victorian Planning Authority draft masterplan, which is yet to be adopted.

Four catalyst projects were outlined to underpin the plan:

■ The expansion of the specialist school

■ New secondary school

■ Arts and cultural precinct

■ Creative industries hub

There were also nine unique places:

■ Learn and Play

■ The Gateway

■ The Hub

■ The Loft

■ Village Heart

■ Jacksons Retreat

■ Main St

■ The Landing

■ Cultural and Learning District

Then Prime Minister Paul Keating opens Victoria University in Sunbury in 1995.

AT A GLANCE

■ The site is 32 hectares in area

■ Sunbury Industrial School operated from 1864-1879

■ Sunbury Lunatic Asylum established in October 1879

■ Victoria University campus at Jacksons Hill operated between 1995 and 2010

■ University campus closed to consolidate programs to St Albans and Footscray

■ Site is now home to Sunbury Primary School, Sunbury and Macedon Ranges Specialist School, Sunbury Radio and the Boilerhouse Theatre Company

■ Some buildings and landscaped areas at Jacksons Hill are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register