With the turning of the first sod on the new University of Newcastle campus in Gosford this week, Member for Terrigal Adam Crouch is calling on the State Government to progress plans for a new TAFE campus at the other end of town.
Plans for a major state-of-the-art TAFE campus on a huge site incorporating the former Gosford Council administration building in Mann St were announced with a fanfare on December 2, 2021.
The then Liberal Government said it was in negotiations with Central Coast Council to buy the administration building and surrounding blocks, including the old Broadwater Hotel site, and land at the rear of both the chambers and the Central Coast Conservatorium.
The figure being negotiated was confidential but then Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education, Geoff Lee, said at the time that the entire project would cost in excess of $100M.
Lee said he hoped construction would begin within 12 months.
But no action was seen prior to the State election in March this year and the new Labor Government is yet to make an announcement on the future of the proposal.
Council says only that negotiations over sale of the land are continuing.
Crouch said it was the former Liberal Government which worked to make the university campus a reality, providing the site and $18M in funding to get the project off the ground.
It was now time for the new government to follow through with the plans for an upgraded TAFE as part of the overall plan to make Gosford a true educational hub, he said.
“I welcome the sod turning of the University of Newcastle’s Gosford campus which will be a massive addition to education in our region, supporting an additional 900 students in our region,” Crouch said.
“I was very proud to be part of the former Coalition government that worked with the University of Newcastle to get this project off the ground, providing the university with the site worth more than $12M and an additional $18M in capital funding through the Six Cities Commission.”
Crouch said it was now time for the Government to follow through with the Coalition’s education plan for the Central Coast.
“The groundwork for a brand-new TAFE site in Gosford was already planned, designed and announced by the former Coalition government and was to go hand-in-hand with the new university campus,” he said.
“The Labor Government needs to fully fund the construction of this new TAFE site which will establish the Central Coast as a regional powerhouse for education.”
Terry Collins