Response to the recent news that Armidale Regional Council was entering into an agreement with Homes NSW to redevelop the Duval High site on Crest Road were mixed.
Homes NSW and the Housing Minister are not answering questions about the proposed redevelopment of the Duval High site, while the Department of Education is uncharacteristically candid in revealing Armidale kids are possibly being punished because of partisan politics.
While many do want something done with the Duval High site as it has been allowed to decay so badly, few were convinced that this development of large housing blocks with views across the valley was really about affordable housing.
The very small number of affordable housing residences and smaller, more affordable blocks are, as per the council briefing papers, blocked together on the site over where the current school classroom building stands. This may mean that if the proposal goes ahead, any affordable housing would likely be built last, after the demolition and asbestos cleanup were complete.
The timeline of events and characters involved has become a little clearer, with the Department of Education confirming that they still own the site and no decision has been made.
“No decision has been made regarding housing on the site of the former Duval High School,” a spokesperson said.
“The Department of Education has granted Homes NSW a licence to undertake due diligence on the site, who has since engaged with Armidale Regional Council in relation to the possible delivery of housing.”
That licence to begin due diligence was issued on July 15, 2025. However, the decision to issue the licence appears not to have been communicated in any public way – including to the Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan, who asked a question on notice about what was happening with the site and potential use by a community group three weeks later on August 7, and has not yet received an answer to his question.
Armidale Regional Council did note very briefly in the local housing strategy approved last year that they intended to investigate working with the state government on affordable housing at the Duval High site, indicating Council has had designs on the site for some time.
Homes NSW ducks questions
Armidale Regional Council claims the land of the former school at 56 – 72 Crest Road has been listed on the Government land audit list as surplus to requirements. However, this claim could not be verified, with Homes NSW and the Housing Minister’s office declining to answer the question, the Department of Planning and Development – the agency responsible for the housing land audit – not responding to enquiries, and the apparent audit not readily accessible from Government websites. The Duval High site is not, however, one of 22 government owned properties made available for sale as a result of the audit.
Armidale Regional Council were clear that Homes NSW were leading this project, however, the state social housing agency was not keen to give any details. Initially, Homes NSW were only asked two questions: did they endorse or approve the media statement put out by Armidale Regional Council, and if it normally the case that the agency would seek to utilise very expensive land for social and affordable housing.
Neither of these questions were answered. Instead, this statement was issued:
“Homes NSW and Armidale Regional Council are working together on a proposal to deliver more housing, including social and affordable housing, for the Armidale region.
“A proposal is currently before Council to redevelop the former Duval High School site along with adjoining land at Grandview Crescent. Exact details for the proposal are still being worked through before a formal concept design is put to the community for feedback.
“Homes NSW will conduct widespread consultation to engage and gather feedback from the community to inform any final plans for the site, including face-to-face community sessions, online submissions, and letterbox notifications.”
A list of tightly worded questions to ascertain facts, timeline, and to determine if this was a normal project for Homes NSW, was then sent to the Homes NSW team last Monday.
Questions put to Homes NSW and Housing Minister
– Who proposed the Duval High site: Homes NSW or Armidale Regional Council?
– Did Homes NSW approve the Council media release and the language they used to characterise the project?
– Who in the NSW Government, as per the Council’s release, additional statements and Mayor’s comments “declared the site surplus to requirements” and usable for this purpose?
– Was any basic assessment of the site done as to whether it would be suitable for affordable and social housing before progressing the proposal?
– Does Homes NSW usually pursue housing developments on highly sought after premium property locations?
– Was Homes NSW aware of Council staff warning against reputational damage given the community’s emotional attachment to the school site, and the unresolved question of demerger of the high school? Were Homes NSW given the same risk warning?
– Was any discussion given to the environmental impact of putting more housing in the area subjected to Armidale’s well documented air pollution issues, rather than outside the topography that creates the near permanent inversion layer?
– There is no shortage of land or developments in and around Armidale, with four growth corridors and multiple development sites in various stages (including 82 vacant blocks available today, and approximately 400 in the pipeline, housing growth consistently above 4%) – and that’s just Armidale, not any of the surrounding rural localities – the only real constraint on housing growth here is builders. Why is Homes NSW wasting time and resources in Armidale at all?
None of these questions were answered, instead, a slightly revised comment was issued:
“We’re confronting the housing crisis by working collaboratively across government and with other key stakeholders to unlock vacant and surplus Government-owned land for repurposing into much-needed diverse housing supply. ”
“There is a pressing need for more social and affordable housing in Armidale. As of 31 July 2025, there were 285 households on the social housing wait list including 29 priority applicants urgently requiring a home.”
These numbers are correct, but not illuminating as to the ‘why’ behind this project. Social housing waitlist figures are published by the Department of Communities and Justice each month. Relative to population of the main urban centre, Armidale has the lowest rate of priority applicants for social housing – less than the state average – and has the second lowest rate of total applicants on the social housing wait list, across the region.
The worst shortage of social housing in the region is in Glen Innes, where 24 families are in urgent need of housing and 106 in total on the social housing wait list, almost as many as Armidale in a community one quarter the size. Tamworth has 122 families in urgent need of housing, 639 on the wait list, while Inverell is not far behind with 24 in urgent need, and 183 applicants on the wait list.
Armidale is also not in desperate need for additional land for housing, such that this proposal may provide relief. Over 80 blocks are currently on the market, including two large blocks already DA approved for subdivisions on Link Road and Northcott Street. A further 400 or more blocks are in various stages of development, including a 240 block development approved for Grafton Road in the same August Council meeting. This proposal also included social housing, in a much more suitable location closer to amenities and without the obvious impediment of a very steep walk up a hill.
After further pressing for answers and four days without response, the questions were escalated to the office of the Minister for Housing, Rose Jackson. The response from the Minister’s office was that a statement had already been issued and there were no further details available.
Demerger of ASC off the table
While the housing side of the government keeps their secrets on this proposal, the education side has been uncharacteristically candid.
There were three towns affected by forced high school mergers as part of the failed ‘super school’ policy under the previous Coalition Government: Armidale, Murwillimbah and Griffith. The other two have both been demerged back to their two high schools and many believed the same would happen the tragic failure that is Armidale Secondary College.
However, both the Department and Minister could not have been more clear that a demerger of ASC was not on the table.
“The school is now well-established and a de-merger is not on the Minns Labor Government’s policy agenda,” read the email from a staffer within the office of acting Education Minister Courtney Houssos.
The Department of Education response was confronting in its candour.
“The NSW Government has demerged the former Murwillumbah Education Campus as well as Murrumbidgee Regional High school. Both of these de-mergers were Labor election commitments.”
Taken together, these statements indicate the de-merger of the other two ‘super schools’ was not a reversal of a failed policy, wherein the same de-merger and restoration of the original high schools would be reasonably expected to be extended to Armidale, but rather a partisan election commitment – a gift for voters the Minns Labor Government has no intention of extending to the National Party voters of the Northern Tablelands.
The state of Armidale Secondary College was an election issue in the 2023 state election, but the most Labor Candidate Yvonne Langenberg could offer was to talk to people about it. One of the few signs of organised resistance, the Re-open Duval High page on Facebook, appears to have lost some of its fight, with flurries of activity around the time of the election and council consultations but few posts in the last year.
Second high school to go elsewhere… if needed
On the issue of where the children from all these new homes would go to school, it seems the number of private schools in our Education City is part of the reason the Department denies public school students and their parents the options they would enjoy in any comparable sized centre.
The department’s demographic projections, based on population and dwelling projection data from relevant departments and agencies, currently indicate there is sufficient capacity at the 6 primary schools within the Armidale urban area and Armidale Secondary College.
“Any additional school facilities will be determined by a range of factors including growth in population, the number of school-aged children, and the number who attend a public school.”
The dysfunction at Armidale Secondary College has caused decreasing student numbers year on year since it opened and attendance rates below the state average. Enrolment in 2024 was just 1030 students, down from 1141 when the super school opened in 2021, nearly a 10% decline in enrolments at a ‘super school’ built for over 1700 students. In the same time, Armidale has enjoyed a compound property growth of 5.6%. Population figures vary wildly outside of Census years, but most estimates put the population growth in Armidale conservatively between 2% and 5%.
The private education market would appear to be taking the extra student load. In addition to transfers to the longstanding elite private schools TAS, NEGS and PLC, and Catholic college O’Connor, the recently opened Waldorf High School has started well, already offering classes through to Year 12 and forging a strong relationship with the University of New England in pursuit of academic excellence. Additionally, a new Christian high school – Highlands Christian School – is slated to open in 2027. The parent driven initiative is expected to be in high demand from a community desperate for an alternative who cannot afford the more elite options.
For its part, Armidale Regional Council asserts it has identified sufficient land in each of its growth areas for community infrastructure such as schools and open space, as well as local conveniences like neighbourhood shops. Council says it will work with the Department of Education as the lead agency on planning for a new high school should they identify the need.
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