Empty schools like 'rotting corpses' - Shadbolt

Tim Shadbolt. File photo / Herald on Sunday

The "rotting corpses" of abandoned Southland primary schools are a blight on the region's landscape, Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt says.

Several schools merged and closed after a review by the Education Ministry in 2004.

"When it all blew up I said 'look, we don't want rotting corpses left around the city'. They assured us it definitely would not happen," Mr Shadbolt told The Southland Times.

He said the council offered to buy the schools for $1 and transform them into community facilities but the ministry refused, saying it had to follow correct disposal procedures.

Ministry records showed it owned three vacant Southland schools, while a number of others were privately owned.

- NZPA