STOP THE SELL OFF !
The former Enmore Superior Public School was established in 1887 with 860 students. Since then it’s been an educational institution of one type of another with the Enmore Tafe School of Design using it as an annexe most recently along with the NSW Adult Migrant Education Service which left the building in 2003. It has a local heritage listing .
Enmore School - Metropolitan Road, Enmore NSW
The NSW State government has been actively trying to sell off this school since Sept 2003 when disposal of the site was approved by the Minister. In Dec 2004 the NSW Education Department made it’s first application to Marrickville council to rezone the site and then again in 2005, when local Marrickville MP Carmel Tebbutt as Minister, applied again to Marrickville Council to rezone the site and allow it to be used for various purposes including residential. These applications were unsuccessful as the Council saw the importance of maintaining this heritage property for public educational use.
In March 2008, the Education Department then applied to the Department of Planning for a site compatibility certificate (which is in effect a rezoning by stealth) which was granted for residential use, sanctioning a proposal to convert the premises into 19 apartments. The school is now on the market and due to be auctioned on July 7, 2009.
The local community has been fighting to save the school and keep the property in public hands for many years and during this time has seen the demographics change as young families are moving into the area. There is a substantial shortage of public educational space in the local area. The only preschool is unable to accomodate local families and the Enmore TAFE which is 300 meters away, has to operate out of demountables . There are a number of urgent uses for this school site and these will increase as the growing number of young unemployed are forced to earn or learn during the economic downturn.
The current Education Minister, Verity Firth has not responded to the hundreds of letters and signatures sent to her from concerned community members and residents who are against this sell off. There are a series of Questions on Notice to Verity Firth from Greens MLC Sylvia Hale which will indicate whether the Department of Education has made this decision based on current demographic information and also whether the site has been offered to any educational institutions in recent years.
Sydney Morning Herald – Anger at Sale of School
June 26, 2009
This story appeared in today’s Sydney Morning Herald. 
by Jennie Curtin
June 26, 2009
THE former Enmore Public School would make an ideal child-care centre and annexe for the nearby TAFE college, locals believe, but instead the State Government plans to sell it to developers to be converted into units.
Residents say there is a desperate need for child-care places with existing preschools full and waiting lists long. They suspect the State Government, which maintains there is no need for an education centre in the area, has been working from old figures which fail to show the increasing number of young families with children living in the inner west.
They say the State Government could take advantage of a Rudd Government initiative on early-learning centres and get the building converted using federal funds.
Alan Croker, convener of the residents’ group opposing the July 7 auction, said the site would be the “perfect location” for an early-learning centre and it could be shared with the Enmore Design Centre, a TAFE institution nearby.
Mr Croker, a part-time teacher at the design centre, said facilities there were deficient. “They need workshop spaces, lecture spaces and an expanded library.”
The Rudd Government has earmarked the inner west as one of 11 NSW sites in need of an early-learning centre but as yet no site has been selected.
Cathy Peters, a Greens member of Marrickville Council, said the heritage-listed school, which was built in 1887 and operated as a school until 2003, presented a golden opportunity.
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Sale of Enmore School is a Scandal – Daily Telegraph
June 25, 2009
Today’s Daily Telegraph has an opinion piece about the sale of Enmore School. 
Maralyn Parker – 24 June 2009
The planned auction of Enmore Public School grounds next month has mobilised a range of inner city locals from parents of pre-schoolers to TAFE teachers and students. It is another great example of how to stir up a local community.
And the debacle highlights one great edifying achievement in education by the NSW Labor government. It has managed to convert many parents of school age children into political activists over the past ten years.
Fighting to stop the sale of school grounds by pollies looking for easy cash can do that to you.
I have seen hundreds of normally mild mannered mums and dads discover their secret inner ratbag this way. Enmore parents now know all about it.
Those budding activists should keep in mind some parents do win. Thriving schools at Erskineville and Hunters Hill can attest to this – as can the still intact, though in remission during an inquiry, Hurlstone Agricultural High School farm.
The Enmore school is on prime real estate in trendy Metropolitan Road. It has not been used as a school for years. Its last incarnation was an adult learning centre and since 2003 it has been left to decay as the local community continued the fight to save it from being sold off.
And that is probably the most despicable part of the decision to go ahead with the sale in 2009. Since 2003 many things have changed in Enmore. The most obvious is the local baby boom.
According to convener of the community action group Save Our School, Alan Crocker, the number of “birthing age adults’’, that is 25 to 39 year olds, in the area is now 10 per cent higher than the Sydney average.
Childcare centres and pre-schools are full. One mother I spoke to yesterday has had to put her four children into three different pre-schools over the past few years and she is grateful even for that.
It is such a problem the federal government has identified the inner city of Sydney as one of 11 high priority areas of NSW in need of an Early Learning Care Centre and there has been a quest to find a school to house the centre.
But follow this – a NSW education department spokesman told me on Tuesday no suitable site had been found so at the beginning of June it ran an advertisement seeking proposals to establish a centre.
It is outrageous that the Enmore site has been ignored. It has 14 classrooms and other areas that, refurbished and upgraded, could be a brilliantly located child care centre and more.
Nearby Stanmore Public School is full – enrolling only strictly local children. But it has classrooms currently being used to house the Distance Education Unit. This unit could easily be moved to Enmore to free up space.
Other inner city primary schools such as Forest Lodge and Ultimo are also full.
And if we need yet another reason to keep this public property for public use, the TAFE college just 250 metres down the road needs room to expand. The Design Centre Enmore is part of this TAFE and demand is high and increasing for its arts based courses. The spillover could be accommodated on the old school site.
According to Alan Croker, who is an architect, the Enmore site could cater for all three of these suggested educational facilities and would be great to reopen as a primary school or small inner city high school in the future.
So selling it off is worse than short sighted it is verging on bloody mindedness. And that makes me wonder what else is going on here.
The school is in deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt’s electorate of Marrickville, Nearby Balmain, another inner city electorate, is held by Education Minister Verity Firth. Both electorates are under threat from the Greens.
The Greens have been the most politically supportive in trying to save the site. Action by Marrickville Council, lead by Greens councillor Cathy Peters, blocked the sale until former planning minister Frank Sartor orchestrated the go-ahead to sell the site. And Greens Education spokesman MLC John Kaye as well MLC Sylvia Hale have pursued the government in parliament over disposal of the site.
If the school is saved the Greens would rightly take some credit.
Surely the government and Carmel Tebutt in particular would not put a win over the Greens above doing what is best for education and the children of NSW.
Politics can be nasty but that would be just too contemptible.
Read it and write a comment on the Daily Telegraph’s website.
Leave a Comment » | 
Blog post, Labor-watch | Tagged: Education, Enmore, John Kaye, Peters, Sylvia Hale, Tebbutt | 
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Media Release - June 22, 2009
State Ministers unaware of Federal early learning priority in Inner West
Meetings last week with Carmel Tebbutt and an advisor from Verity Firth’s office confirmed that both Ministers are unaware of the Federal government’s listing of the Inner West as a high priority location for an Early Learning and Care Centre.
Local Greens Councillor Cathy Peters and State Greens MLC Sylvia Hale joined Save Our School representatives in Parliament House seeking a postponement of the forthcoming auction of the former Enmore School building in Metropolitan Road., Enmore until details about the basis for this decision were released and other possibilities were explored.
They were surprised to learn from Verity Firth’s advisor, that the NSW Dept of Education was unaware that the Inner West was one of the 11 priority locations in NSW identified for funding of up to $1.6 million for an Early Learning and Care Centre. These centres are designed to provide high quality and affordable integrated early learning and care in a long day care setting that that takes into account the specific requirements of the local community. The State Government has already provided land on 5 Primary School sites in NSW for these centres but nothing in the Inner West.
“It’s a pity that our local State politicians aren’t able to see that a centre like this is ideally suited for location in the former Enmore School building. With our local preschools booked to capacity and unable to service local families, it makes great sense to use this building and refurbish it with the funds that the Federal government is offering to set up an Early Learning and Care Centre in the Inner West”, says Councillor Peters.
“It’s a no brainer – the building is there , the demand is there and there’s Federal funding available to set up the facility “ says Clr Peters, “how is it that both Verity Firth and Carmel Tebbutt are so unresponsive to this win win situation?”
“The NSW Education Dept has been shown to have been totally wrong about selling off Erskineville Public School and will again be shown to be wrong with the Enmore School sell off – the community needs this facility now and will need it even more in coming years.”
“Decisions like this cannot be made using out-of-date demographics. The Federal government has identified the Inner West as a priority area for early education – how is it that the State government and local Ministers aren’t able to see this as well?”
Contact: Councillor Cathy Peters 0419 444 974
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MEDIA RELEASE – June 21, 2009
SAVE OUR SCHOOL
Former Enmore Public School, 2 – 12 Metropolitan Rd, Enmore
MEETINGS CONFIRM GOVERNMENT’S DETERMINATION TO SELL IMPORTANT ASSET IN SPITE OF COMMUNITY OPPOSITION
Meetings late last week between SOS representatives and both Verity Firth’s office and Carmel Tebbutt, confirm the government is determined to proceed with the sale of the former Enmore Public School in spite of community opposition. These meetings also confirmed that the government has no vision for the present, let alone the future education needs of the Enmore and nearby communities.
SOS convenor, Alan Croker, who attended both meetings, said “the government appears to have no plans at all as to how to accommodate the educational needs of the present baby boom in the Inner West, both now and in the future.”
“This suggests that they have either made a terrible blunder in their forward planning projections, or they have not updated them since the Inner West baby boom became evident. The department has so far failed to provide the details and figures on which their decision was based. That would be too embarrassing.”
Of the meeting with Ms Tebbutt, Mr Croker said “Metropolitan Rd resident John Scobie pointed out that he has been unable to find local pre-school accommodation for his two children. In the ensuing discussion, Ms Tebbutt cleverly diverted the discussion onto the ready availability of primary and secondary school places but at no point acknowledged that the present serious shortage of pre-school places would very soon work its way through the system leading to a serious shortage of primary and then secondary school places. Mr Scobie remarked that the decision to sell facilities such as the Enmore School site would be considered by any responsible asset manager as a bad business decision.”
“Greens MP Sylvia Hale asked a series of Questions on Notice in parliament on 3rd June about the proposed sale and the reasoning behind it, but we are yet to receive the answers. Dr John Kaye, Greens MP and spokesperson for education asked a Question Without Notice last Thursday about the proposed sale and received a very inadequate and rather dismissive response.”
Alan Croker said “the agent responsible for the sale has advised some interested parties that the expected price is around $1.5 million. This is a joke and is well below even the land value of the site which comprises 1,672 sq metres. This would appear to be in breach of the government’s own guidelines on the disposal of public assets.”
“The proposed sale is little more than an act of blind political arrogance and will only galvanise the electorate against the government. Even Ms Tebbutt acknowledges that it is not a good time for the market, but even a request put to her to postpone the sale to allow time for consideration of alternatives, received virtually no support.”
Alan Croker and other member of SOS have now inspected the building. Mr Croker, a well respected and experienced architect specialising in adaptive re-use, said “it is in remarkably sound condition with many spaces requiring little more than a coat of paint and new floor coverings. With its generous spaces, high ceilings and excellent daylight, it is highly adaptable and ideal for a continued role as an education facility. The extensive undercroft spaces provide generous areas for covered playground areas. The cost of re-furbishment would be far less than constructing new buildings of equivalent accommodation.”
Mr Croker asked Ms Tebbutt if she had ever inspected the Enmore building. When she responded that she had not, he offered to show her around himself, to point out how good a condition the building was in and how easy it would be to upgrade it to meet modern educational needs. Ms Tebbutt has so far failed to take up the offer.
He said “The government appears to be incapable of understanding the seriousness and urgency of the needs of inner city communities as young professional families increasingly choose to raise their families in these areas instead of moving to suburbs with larger back yards as their predecessors have done. By disposing of sites such as the former Enmore Public School, they are denying the community the capacity to provide local education opportunities at every level of education.”
“The former Enmore Public School site has in its 122 year history, constantly adapted to the changing needs and demographics of the local community. With the proposed sale by auction on 7th July, this process will be terminated.”
“Suggestions made to both the Dept of Education & Training, and to Carmel Tebbutt, to utilise the Enmore School site as an annexe to the Enmore Design Centre (TAFE), less than 250m away, with an associated Childcare or Pre-school facility, were dismissed as not needed.”
“The Enmore Design Centre (TAFE), will be forced to use its little remaining open space to accommodate facilities it already needs, including workshops, lecture theatre, expanded library etc, not to mention the department which is already operating out of leaky demountables in this open space. The department is effectively strangling this facility, when it should be nurturing and expanding it in response to increasingly high demand for its courses.”
“The federal government’s investment in education at every level, including increased education and training opportunities for adults, as well as the multi-million dollar investment in new Early Learning Centres announced earlier this month, is surely a gift horse for the NSW government to utilise and upgrade existing assets such as the Enmore School site with little cost to themselves. The Dept of Education and Ms Tebbutt’s continued stubbornness and lack of vision will only reduce the possibilities for the federal government to implement this vision.”
Contact: Alan Croker (on behalf of the Save Our School group, and concerned residents of Enmore)
Phone Wk: 9319 1855; Phone Hm: 9557 3310
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12 . “Freo doctor” blows across Marrickville and BalmainAlex Mitchell writes:Community protest is rising in Sydney’s inner-city suburb of Marrickville over the Labor Government’s proposed sale of the former Enmore Superior Public School.
An avalanche of protest letters and signed petitions have been sent to Education Minister Verity Firth in an attempt to halt the auction which is scheduled for July 17.The Planning Department has sanctioned the conversion of the heritage-listed school, built in 1887, into 19 swish apartments.
The threatened school is in the Marrickville electorate of Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt, who is also the Environment Minister, while Ms Firth holds the neighbouring electorate of Balmain.The sell-off was first proposed by the so-called “Education Premier”, Bob Carr, and his Education Minister John Aquilina using demographic statistics which were cooked by bureaucrats within the Education Department.
To lose the school to private developers in 2009 when the area is expanding and education facilities are at a premium would be a tragedy, according to the local Save Our School protest group.Marrickville Greens councillor and SOS supporter Cathie Peters said letters, petitions and emails had been sent to Ms Tebbutt and Ms Firth but no response had been forthcoming.“This is an indication of the systemic problems within the State Labor government where Ministers think they are unaccountable to their constituents and routinely ignore the genuine concerns of local communities,” Cllr Peters said.
She said the area desperately needed space for schools, pre-schools and TAFE now and in the future.
Both Ms Tebbutt and Ms Firth are high-profile members of the NSW Labor left. The dominant right-wing faction seems to take vicarious pleasure from conducting civic war in their electorates. Can you imagine State Cabinet agreeing to the sale of a public school in the heartland of one of the right-wing power brokers? It wouldn’t happen and, if it did, it would be rolled at the first opportunity.Greens councillors hold sway on Marrickville and Leichhardt Councils which are in the state electorates held by Tebbutt and Firth. Both MPs are menaced by the rising influence of the metropolitan Greens, the formidable electoral force which recently stole the WA state seat of Freemantle from the ALP.
The “Freo doctor” is blowing across Marrickville and Balmain and the two vulnerable MPs have decided their best strategy is to pretend not to hear the drumbeats from the jungle.______________________________________________________
Hansard June 18, 2009
PUBLIC SCHOOL AND TAFE ACCELERATED LAND SALES
Dr JOHN KAYE: My question is directed to the Treasurer, and it refers to the mini-budget plan for a $239 million accelerated sale of public school and TAFE lands. Is this plan continued into the 2009-10 New South Wales budget? Is the former Enmore Public School site part of the accelerated land sales? Is the Treasurer aware of the urgent need for public education space in the inner west, including childcare centres and overcrowded TAFE colleges? What steps is the Treasurer taking to assess the impact of the accelerated land sales of public schools on the overcrowding of schools of the future?
The Hon. ERIC ROOZENDAAL: I welcome the member’s question and his interest in the budget. I notice we have some TAFE students in the public gallery today, so it is very relevant that we talk about what this budget has done for the people of New South Wales in relation to education and training.
The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Duncan Gay and the Hon. Charlie Lynn will cease interjecting.
The Hon. ERIC ROOZENDAAL: In the budget on Tuesday the New South Wales Government announced that it will invest $14.7 billion into world-class education services for our State schools—
Dr John Kaye: Point of order: My question had nothing to do with the matter the Treasurer is now addressing. My question related to the $239 million of accelerated land sales. The Treasurer is doing everything he can to not address that. I ask you to direct him to address the question.
The PRESIDENT: Order! I ask the Treasurer to be generally relevant to the question asked.
The Hon. ERIC ROOZENDAAL: I am advised that the school Dr John Kaye refers to is not even open. I will talk about the schools that are open and all the funding to improve education and TAFE training, because there is a lot to say. We are focusing on increasing levels of attainment and we are raising the number of students completing year 12. Of course, it was the Rees Labor Government that raised the school leaving age for the first time since 1943. And why did we do that?
Dr John Kaye: Point of order: The Treasurer is clearly flouting your ruling. You asked him to be generally relevant; he is being specifically irrelevant.
The PRESIDENT: Order! I ask the Treasurer to continue to be generally relevant.
The Hon. ERIC ROOZENDAAL: I am stunned and offended that Dr John Kaye thinks raising the school leaving age is irrelevant. The facts are that the longer students stay in school the more likely they are to have a better lifestyle, a more satisfying career and a higher earning capacity. That is what this Government is about. That the Greens and Dr John Kaye believe that to be irrelevant is offensive to the education system and to the hardworking students in schools and TAFE in this State.
The Government has invested $14.7 billion in schools and TAFE in this State—the highest amount of money ever spent on education in the history of this State. People can go and look around the schools in New South Wales and see that as a result of our partnership with the Federal Government, by delivering on its stimulus package, together with our funding, every school in the State is becoming a building site to improve infrastructure and facilities. There is not only more money for improvements in infrastructure; there is more money for a better quality of teaching, more money for teachers and more money for schools for an improvement in education.
The Hon. Duncan Gay: This is just ridiculous. This is an absolute disgrace. You cannot be proud of that retort.
The Hon. ERIC ROOZENDAAL: The Deputy Leader of the Opposition—Fred Flintstone—should stop flapping away. He is still in the Stone Age. We take education for the people of this State very, very seriously.
Dr John Kaye: What about the $239 million?
The Hon. ERIC ROOZENDAAL: That is right, we have record funding in education and we will continue to fund education.
The Hon. ERIC ROOZENDAAL: Earlier today I was asked a question by Dr John Kaye about the sale of the Enmore School site on Metropolitan Road. I have been advised by the office of the Minister for Education and Training that the building in question no longer meets current educational standards and would require extensive modifications to achieve compliance with those standards. There is no current or future anticipated educational demand for the reuse of this building for school or TAFE purposes. In any event, it is considered that it would not be feasible to remodel it for such purposes should the demand exist. I am advised that the Department of Education and Training appreciates the heritage significance of the school and the need to protect such historic buildings. There are many examples of heritage-listed buildings, including former schools, that have been successfully reused for residential accommodation while preserving the historic nature of the buildings.
Questions without notice concluded.
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S O S
ENMORE SCHOOL ON THE MARKET
JUNE 5, 2009
Carmel Tebbutt and Verity Firth do not seem to be listening to local residents.
The old Enmore School has been advertised with a real estate agent. This heritage building and important public asset is about to be privatised and turned into apartments! It is due to be auctioned on July 7, 2009.
Minister Firth still has not met with those opposed to the sale, despite hundreds of letters from local residents and interest from educational institutions in using the building.
Let Verity know what you think
Ms Verity Firth,
112A Glebe Point Road,
GLEBE NSW 2037
Phone (02) 9660 7586
Fax (02) 9660 6112
Email balmain@parliament.nsw.gov.au
QUESTIONS ON NOTICE
To the Minister representing the Minister for Education
June 2, 2009
Sylvia Hale MLC Member of the Legislative Council Parliament of NSWENMORE BOYS SCHOOL
- When was the decision made to dispose of the former Enmore School building at 2-12 Metropolitan Road, Enmore?
- On what grounds was that decision made? What population projections and demographic evidence was taken into account when determining to sell the school site?
- When were those projections and statistics compiled and to which years did they refer?
- Are those projections/statistics publicly available?
- Was the decision to sell the site re-examined in the light of more recent statistical/demographic evidence?
- What demographic figures were used to determine the futures of surrounding schools and educational facilities? And was this site considered as an adjunct facility to enable support for these schools? If not, why not?
- What attempts have been made to ascertain whether any public educational institutions were or are interested in utilising the premises?
- When were those attempts made, and to whom, and what were the responses?
- Were any other community or public institutions approached to establish whether they were interested in utilising the premises?
- If so, when were those approaches made and what were the responses?
- What were the decisions by Enmore TAFE (Design Centre Enmore) in relation to their long term use of their current site, and did this include consideration of the redundant school building at 2-12 Metropolitan Rd? If not, why not?
- Has Enmore TAFE (Design Centre Enmore) been offered use of the building, given that it requires additional accommodation and the former school site is less than 250 metres from the TAFE campus? If so, when and what were the responses?
- Will the sale of the site to private interests for residential accommodation be reconsidered in light of the Federal government’s emphasis on skills training and the recently proposed ‘earn or learn’ requirements on young people, policies that are expected to result in an increased demand for TAFE courses and accommodation?
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SAVE OUR SCHOOL RALLY – MAY 9TH, 2009
Local community members gathered outside the school on May 9th to show their opposition to the sale of this public property. They added their voices to the growing number of locals who are opposed to this sell off – at present there are over 600 residents and supporters who have petitioned Verity Firth and yet she has not even acknowledged these residents let alone met with them to discuss this opportunistic sale.
Rally – various speakers
Rally – Sylvia Hale NSW Greens MLC
Rally – John Kaye NSW Greens MLC
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Media Release 28th May 2009
Labor refuses to talk about Enmore School sale
The local community in Enmore is becoming increasingly frustrated by the arrogance shown by both Carmel Tebbutt and Verity Firth regarding their silence on the Save Our School groups repeated attempts to meet with either Minister to discuss the proposed sale of the former Enmore School in Metropolitan Road, Enmore.
“The Save Our School group first contacted NSW Education Minister Verity Firth on April 30th and both she and Deputy Leader Carmel Tebbutt have received some 245 signed letters and a petition with 108 signatures opposing this sale and yet they have ignored the serious concerns expressed by so many residents of Newtown and Enmore,” says local Greens councillor Cathy Peters.
“They have both been phoned and emailed repeatedly and yet neither Minister has responded at all to this large community opposition. There has been no acknowledgement of the letters and petition to SOS convener, Alan Croker and no indication that either Minister will meet with community members to discuss this issue.”"This is an indication of the systemic problems within the State Labor government where Ministers think they are unaccountable to their constituents and routinely ignore the genuine concerns of local communities.”
“We have seen this arrogance throughout several key areas in transport, education, planning and environment in the Inner West where the ALP has complacently expected to retain their votes despite letting important public transport infrastructure decay, sidestepping local councils with new planning legislation and moving to sell off valuable community assets such as the Enmore School site.”
“The community is now fed up and seeks immediate consultation on this proposed sale which will deny local educational institutions the opportunity to access urgently needed space for schools, preshools and TAFE and deny the community access now and in the future, to local educational and community services .”
Contact:
Clr Cathy Peters
cpeters@marrickville.nsw.gov.au
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Media Release May 3, 2009
Greens reject sale of former Enmore School
Local Greens councilors and State Greens MLC’s Sylvia Hale and John Kaye are joining with the Save Our Schools residents group this Saturday for a community rally on the former Enmore school site on Metropolitan Road, to protest against its forthcoming sale by the NSW Education Department.
“The sale of this valuable community asset is unsupportable especially at a time when the demographics of the inner west are changing. Recent census figures indicate that the number of birthing age adults (25-39) in the Marrickville area is almost 10% higher than the Sydney average but the NSW Education Department chooses to ignore these statistics” said Clr Cathy Peters.
“The State Government has wanted to sell off this site for some years now but was unable to do so until ex-Minister Sartor’s new planning laws allowed its rezoning, against the wishes of the previous council and local community”.
“The school site has operated as an educational facility for over 100 years and it’s crucial to maintain this space, as local facilities are stretched to the maximum. The area’s only preschool Camdenville, is fully booked and local parents are being put on waiting lists. As well, whole departments of the Enmore TAFE are using temporary buildings even though the TAFE is just metres away from the Enmore School site. Predictions are that this situation will only get worse, as the current baby boom generation reach school age and the newly unemployed seek educational programs during this recession.”
“Education Minister Verity Firth has not yet responded to the Save Our School resident action group’s urgent calls for a meeting to deliver the 200 odd letters from locals opposing this sale. I hope short term monetary gain does not prove to be more important to the Minister than the immediate and future educational needs of this community”.
Enquiries:
Clr Cathy Peters Greens Councillor (0419444974)
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SAVE OUR SCHOOL
HELP
OUR COMMUNITY NEEDS THIS BUILDING
VOICE YOUR STRONG OPPOSITION
to NSW Education Minister
Ms Verity Firth
Ph (02) 92284130 Fax (02) 9228 4131 Email office@firth.minister.nsw.gov.au
More Info: Save Our School
Alan Croker, Convenor
alancroker@design5.com.au_________________________________________________________________________________________________________Marrickville
Marrickville Council Meeting April 21 2009
Enmore School Sale motion NM 15
From Councillor Cathy Peters
Motion:
Council write to the NSW Minister for Education, Verity Firth and the Deputy Leader, Carmel Tebbutt as well as the Shadow Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli, and the NSW Greens spokesperson for Education, Dr. John Kaye, noting that
1) The former Enmore Boys School at 2-12 Metropolitan Road, Enmore is to be put on the market next month by the NSW Department of Education and Training (Asset Management section).
2) The local community is against this proposed sale as this property represents a valuable community asset that residents want to be maintained as public property for use by local educational institutions or by other groups such as childcare centres and community outreach groups.
3) Marrickville Council is opposed to the sale of this property as it is a significant property that should be used to provide essential public services within the LGA.
Background
There is a recognized shortage of public and community spaces in the area. The Enmore TAFE College operates using temporary buildings to make up for its shortage of accommodation and the local preschools and the local community centres are running at capacity.
Residents located in the area bounded by the eastern side of Metropolitan Road are unable to access to local preschool places (at Camdenville Public School) and have to go on waiting lists for facilities based in Newtown and Darlington. And yet part of the former Enmore School has been used as a preschool previously and could be easily readapted for this use.
Enmore TAFE is operating with inadequate space and teachers have indicated that any extra space would be extremely valuable, especially given that the TAFE is located at the end of Metropolitan Road, only a short walk from the Enmore School site.
The only community centre in this district (Enmore/Newtown/Stanmore) is the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre and it is also operating at capacity with all its meeting rooms fully booked each week. The Centre offers a huge range of services within the community and any additional space would be greatly valued especially as the Centre will be undergoing major renovations in the next 12 months and so alternate accommodation will be crucial.
The Sydney Distance Education Primary School is located in a wing of Stanmore Public School using rooms that could be used by the staff and students of Stanmore primary school which is already in need of additional accommodation. The Enmore School property is ideally suited as a location for The Sydney Distance Education School.
(Result – motion defeated – ALP Councillors Tsardoulis, Wright, Iskander, O’Sullivan,and Independant councillors Macri and Hanna against the motion. All 5 Greens councillors and Independant councillor Dimitri Thanos voted for the motion)
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Links:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/anger-at-sale-of-school-20090625-cy9w.html
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/maralynparker/
The Glebe May 1, 2009
http://glebe.whereilive.com.au/news/story/school-is-set-for-a-quick-sale/
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Former Enmore Public School – TIMELINE
1887 Enmore Public School opened in September as an infants and primary school – boys and girls in separate wings
designed by William Kemp
1893-1910 also operating as an evening school
1905/06 rebuilding and enlargement of central section during summer holidays including Flemish style gables – enrolments approaching 900
alterations designed by Richard Wells
1913 school upgraded to accommodate primary and secondary and a home science department
1923 secondary school function ceases (presumably when new larger school constructed at bottom end of Metropolitan Rd)
building continues to be used as a primary school
1953 use as primary school ceases but continues use as an infants school
1956 role as infants school ceases and whole building dedicated for use as a boys high school
1977 commence use as co-ed high school as annexe to Enmore High School at bottom end of Metropolitan Rd
1989 annexe to the Enmore High School closes
1990 Enmore High School, (at bottom end of Metropolitan Rd), closes at end of 1990 and opens, after alterations and additions, as Design Centre Enmore (TAFE)
1992 Enmore High School Annexe declared as surplus to the needs of the Department on 27 July 1992
1992 Enmore High School Annexe building leased to NSW Adult Migrant Education Service (AMES) for use as classrooms. Southern part of ground floor used as child care facility for students and staff. Some upgrading works carried out for these functions
2001 Enmore High School Annexe listed as a Heritage Item on the Marrickville LEP 2001 (listed as Enmore Activity School)
(building also listed on Dept of Education & Training’s Section 170 Register as a local Heritage Item – date of listing not known)
2003 Minister approves disposal of Enmore High School Annexe
29 September 2003 and AMES vacates building
2004 Government Asset Management Committee endorses Department’s Asset Disposal Plan on 22 April 2004 which provides for the site’s rezoning and sale by competitive process
2004 23 December 2004, Dept of Education & Training submits application (200400782) to Marrickville Council for change of zoning for site to ‘Residential C’ to permit a residential flat building. Presently zoned as ‘Special Uses A’
Application deferred, pending submission of details of proposed development following re-zoning
2005 Department submits development application (DA200500289) on 24 June 2005 to Marrickville Council for conversion of building into 15 apartments. Council defers decision pending a meeting between the Dept and local residents. Council refuses application March 2006.
2008 Approval granted by Dept of Planning 13 March 2008, for conversion of building into 15 apartments, via a Site Compatibility Certificate which allows government to bypass council to achieve zoning change
2009 5 June 2009, sign erected on building advertising sale by auction on 7 July 2009. Agents – Cushman & Wakefield
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HISTORY Enmore School
2 -12 Metropolitan Road, Enmore NSW
This historic school was opened in 1887 soon after this part of Enmore was first subdivided. It was designed by William Kemp, the leading school architect in the government at the time. It was sympathetically extended in 1906 and has remained without major alteration since that time. It was originally used as a primary school with some 800 students and remained in use as such even after a larger school was built at the bottom end of Metropolitan Rd, approx 250 metres away, around the 1920s. In the mid 1950s it became a high school and was used as an annexe to the larger school until it closed around 1990. After this closure, the larger school was refurbished as the TAFE – Enmore Design College, and the smaller original school was used by the Migrant Education Service (AMES) to run adult English classes. As an integral part of this use, a large part of the ground floor was used as a child care centre. The building currently houses 14 classrooms and a large covered undercroft area (excerpts from “Marrickville People and Places” Chrys Meader and Richard Cashman).
About 7 years ago, the AMES closed down and since then the school has been left vacant by the NSW Education Departmen. The building is listed as a Heritage Item on the local Marrickville LEP and is considered a local landmark.
In a letter to Marrickville Council (attached to a council report for a meeting on 6 December 2005), the Education Dept stated that there was “ample surplus accommodation available in surrounding schools should enrolments increase in the future. It is also evident that the number of school age children in the LGA has steadily declined over the past 20 years and there is no evidence that this pattern is likely to change.” At that stage the Dept was applying to council for the site to be rezoned to allow it to be sold off and used for apartments. Many residents in the area objected to this proposed change in zoning as it would allow the sale of a public asset which was argued should be retained for the future education and childcare needs of the local community. Marrickville Council rejected this application.
At this time local residents were already aware of a rapidly changing demographic in the area, with many young professional couples starting families but staying in the inner west rather than moving away as had happened in the past. The census figures had not yet picked up this trend and the Dept was using this now out of date data on which to base their decision. The baby boom in the inner west is now clearly evident to all who live here. It seems that the Department was and still is using figures from 2003 to back up their claim that the school site is surplus to their needs.
Local residents strongly argued a case for using the school as a preschool or early childhood centre, as an annexe to the Enmore Design College, or as the centre for the Distance Education Unit which was and still is occupying valuable teaching space within Stanmore Public School. At this time the Dept had decided to close Erskineville Public School for similar reasons of falling enrolments, but due to strong local community pressure, this decision was reversed and this school is now operating at capacity, as are most primary schools in the inner west.
As a result of changes to the approvals process enacted by the Dept of Planning, council approval is no longer required for a change of zoning, and thus the Enmore school site has now a site compatible certificate which allows for residential apartments. The school was listed on the market on June 4 this year despite the ongoing and increasing community opposition to this sale and is up for auction on July 7, 2009.
Education Minister Firth has not responded at all to the hundreds of letters and petition signatures she has received since April this year. The community is appalled by this lack of consultation.
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Save Our School community group
Convenor Alan Croker (alancroker@design5.com.au) Phone Wk: 9319 1855; Phone Hm: 9557 3310
