Council 'uninformed' over teachers college sale, says Uni

8:41 am on 18 March 2017

Victoria University is hitting back at Wellington city councillors, saying it is surprised at how ill-informed they are.

Victoria University's Karori Campus.

Victoria University's Karori Campus Photo: Google Maps.

On Thursday, councillors voted unanimously to declare an interest in buying the university's Karori campus and keeping it for community use.

Councillor Iona Pannett said ahead of the vote it felt like the university was a holding a gun to the council's head over the sale.

Victoria University vice-chancellor Grant Guilford said that if councillors had done their due diligence there might have been a more informed debate.

"Our main beef from the meeting is that a couple of councillors are not properly informed about the nature of the arrangements that have been reached and have made inappropriate statements in the media."

The university formally paid the Crown $10 for the block in 2015, but has been responsible for all its assets and liabilities since 2004, and Mr Guilford said the university spent more than $1 million each year on maintenance at the Karori campus, despite not using it for teaching.

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