A group of Keilor residents is furious at state government plans to sell former Brimbank school sites.
One of the group, Virginia Tachos, said she was worried the land would be bought by developers to build units or townhouses.
She said the land should be used for parkland, technical schools and other community uses.
The state government is preparing to sell the former Calder Rise, Deer Park and Keilor Park primary school sites, and Kealba secondary college site, as well as land in McCubbin Drive, Sydenham North.
According to the department of treasury and finance, which is overseeing the sale, each site will be assessed for market readiness and may be subject to rezoning before being sold.
The department offered to sell the sites to Brimbank council earlier this year, but administrators voted against the purchase.
Ms Tachos and fellow resident Brendan Jamieson want to see a cricket and football oval to complement the one in Keilor Village.
Niddrie MP Ben Carroll has sided with residents and said he will write to state Education Minister Martin Dixon requesting that any proceeds raised from the sales go back into the local area.
A spokesman for Assistant Treasurer Gordon Rich-Phillips said the sites in question “were closed by the previous Labor government and left abandoned, derelict and decaying”.
“Proceeds of land sales are reinvested back into important new infrastructure, such as the $19.4 million pledged by the Coalition government for the Sunshine College redevelopment and $200 million for the removal of the Main Road, St Albans, level crossing,” the spokesman said.
