School site ‘fire hazard’

By Casey Neill
A KNOX councillor has labelled the former Ferntree Gully Primary School site a fire hazard and vandal haven.
Baird Ward councillor Peter Cole the State Government had allowed the ‘defunct and dilapidated’ school to rot.
“They closed the school years ago, put up a fence and forgot about the place,” he said. “Letting an historic site like this go to rack and ruin is unforgivable.”
Cr Cole said little or no maintenance had been carried out since the school was closed two years ago.
“Despite the campus containing two buildings of heritage significance there seems to be no plans for future use,” he said. “Just overgrown garden beds and windows boarded up in a futile attempt to reduce vandalism.”
He said the grounds were littered with ‘shoulder high grass’ and ‘piles of vegetation’. “Imagine how the 20 or so neighbours feel, living so close to such a mess,” he said.
Cr Cole demanded urgent action to clean up the site, which is located on the corner of Burwood Highway and Dorset Road.
An Education Department spokesman said regular maintenance was carried out on the site. “If further maintenance work is required it will be done as soon as possible,” he said.
He said the department was continuing to ‘examine the special education needs of the region’.