Rototuna school land purchase near

The Education Ministry appears poised to finally purchase land earmarked for a possible Rototuna high school, but construction may still be some time off. The Waikato Times understands the final settlement sign-off for the 13-hectare property, located between the yet-to-be-built Waikato Expressway and Te Totara Primary School, will take place early next week.

Paul Burke, Education Ministry group manager property, confirmed the ministry expected to settle with the vendor this month, but did not specify a date. Mr Burke had previously said the purchase would be complete in February.

Hamilton East National MP David Bennett, a long-time supporter of the proposed school, said the delays would soon be over. "There have been some issues, but now those problems are in the past," he said.

The ministry put aside $16.5 million last year for its 2009/10 school property capital plan to pay for the proposed school.

Mr Burke said it could take up to three years for a new school to be built. He did not give an indication of when construction would start or a proposed opening date. "It takes time to complete each stage of the building process, from planning, through to designing and building the facility," he said.

Hamilton-based Labour list MP Sue Moroney said that even when the land was finally purchased, community consultation would mean the construction of the school could still be a long way off. She was surprised the consultation, to gauge what sort of school matched the community's needs, had not been taking place already, despite the land not being fully settled.

"There was nothing to stop the ministry doing that community consultation before it was signed off," she said.

North East Schools Action Group chairwoman Ngahuia Muri was encouraged by the imminent settlement, but said she would wait until it actually happened before celebrating.

"It is good news but there's still a long way to go before we have a high school," she said.

The group sent a 3044-name petition to the Education Ministry select committee last May requesting the ministry speed up the land purchase.

Meanwhile, Rototuna's primary school, Te Totara Primary, is about to start construction on eight classrooms which will increase the school's capacity to 650. It currently;y has 280 pupils.

Construction will begin in the next eight weeks, and is due to be finished before the start of the 2011 school year.

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