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News
Council bows out of city campus
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
• Howick and Botany Times
THE Manukau City Council has decided not to go ahead with the purchase of land near Manukau’s CBD, intended for an Auckland University of Technology (AUT) campus.
The council went out to public consultation late last year and heard submissions on the proposal in January. It was for a joint venture company that would buy a site to enable AUT to establish a Manukau campus.
During the proposal period the council worked closely with AUT to explore in depth a specific site appropriate for a campus near the CBD.
However, it was decided that while a collaborative approach for establishing another campus in Manukau is worthwhile, in this instance the requirements of council and AUT could not be met.
The council decided to not go ahead with the present proposal to establish a council-controlled organisation (CCO) regarding a tertiary campus in Manukau. The council will instead discuss options at a workshop next month.
Manukau Mayor Len Brown says that the council still firmly supports the increase in tertiary educational opportunities for Manukau’s youth.
“We must close the skills gap. Education is extremely important for Manukau’s future,” says Mr Brown.
“During the consultation process, the community told us that they want to see a wide range of tertiary educational opportunities provided for their children in Manukau.
“I’d like to thank them for their submissions. They gave us an excellent insight into how they view this issue.
“They also reaffirmed our belief that education is one of the keys to Manukau’s future as a successful and progressive city.
“AUT and the Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) are both highly respected tertiary institutions.
“We’re committed to working with them and we know that they have similar objectives to ours,” says Mr Brown.
“Throughout our discussions with AUT, it was clear that AUT’s committed to working with us and with MIT to ensure that the joint AUT/MIT campus that has been proposed for the Manukau city centre will go ahead.
“That this particular proposal could not, at the end, be concluded successfully only indicates that, as a council, we’re determined to ensure a robust result is reached that satisfies the requirements of everyone involved.”
Howick councillor Jami-Lee Ross says the council took the strong public oppostition on board.
“I believe Manukau City Council has made the right decision by deciding against borrowing to fund the cost of a new tertiary facility in Manukau.
“Three quarters of submitters indicated they were opposed to the idea and we have listened to them. The merits of the proposal were not strong.
“AUT has proven unable to give the council a firm guarantee that there would be no cost to council. This would have resulted in a risky venture for ratepayers,” he says.
“The proposal was also very speculative given that it relied on property appreciation to reach a break even position.
“Ultimately the provision of tertiary facilities is not a local government role, and borrowing $60million was outside the scope of council responsibility.”
Botany councillor Michael Williams opposed the proposal from the outset and is pleased by the decision.
“I think that council would be better served to facilitate to reduce the educational gap that exists in some areas in the city, and many of those courses are already offered by MIT.
“There does need to be further discussions about tertiary facilities in the city and I guess that is the next step.”
