Media Release

EMPTY bottles, graffiti and paint over walls, disused textbooks, and rubbish everywhere this is what remains of once proud Maroondah schools languishing while the State Government decides what to do with them.

The Maroondah Leader visited the former school sites of Heathmont College and Croydon South, Croydon North and Heathmont primary schools to find them in varying states of disrepair.

All the grounds remain totally vacant except Heathmont Primary, which had 18 homes built on part of the site in 2006 after closing in the late 1990s.

Croydon South, which closed in 2008, was boarded up mid-last year after being overrun by vandals and intruders.

Textbooks, tables and fire extinguishers, which sit among a mess of paint, boxes and furniture, are reminders of the buildings' school history.

Kilsyth state Liberal MP David Hodgett, who last year submitted a 556-signature petition to Parliament calling for the school to be turned into parkland, said the buildings could be used by the community.

``It is disgraceful that (the Government) has let these sites become overgrown and decrepit, lazily boarding them up rather than using them,'' Mr Hodgett said.

State Government development agency VicUrban has lodged a combined rezoning and planning application to Maroondah Council so it can build 66 two-storey homes on the former Heathmont College site.

Education Department spokesman Travis Parnaby said the Croydon South site was ``surplus to educational needs'' and would be offered to other departments, then Maroondah Council and finally for public sale.

Mr Parnaby said the department was ``exploring its options'' for educational use at Croydon North.

Maroondah Council director of city development Phil Turner said the council regularly maintained its section of the Heathmont Primary site, and residents could report waste dumped on council land by phoning 1300 882 233.