Councillor Peter Cox spoke in favour of the motion, saying the city’s hand had been forced by the fact an application to demolish the school would be automatically allowed to proceed if Mr Wynne did not place an interim heritage protection order on the 1881 building.

“What this motion does is puts a process in place, we’re asking the minister to provide an interim heritage order so all the parties can come together and decide what’s best for the future,” Cr Cox said.

“It’s a relatively small building but it’s right on the boundary on Howard Street and one of the important heritage aspects is that heritage plays a big role in streetscapes, so with it being on the boundary and with Epsom losing many of its former heritage buildings, this is a particularly important site.”

Councillor Elise Chapman put the other side of the argument, reading from a letter from the Epsom Primary School Council, which outlined concerns the building would not fit in with the school’s planned $5.7 million redevelopment.

“It’s poorly positioned, out of place with the new school’s design and would be expensive for the school to maintain,” Cr Chapman read.

“Those comment are from the people who are actually living it, so I just couldn’t let it go without voicing their concerns,” she said.

The meeting was also the current council’s last opportunity to award contracts worth more than $994,210 before entering caretaker mode, and a number of major projects got the go ahead, including the Bendigo Tennis Centre redevelopment and the White Hills Botanic Gardens Garden for the Future project.

Councillor Helen Leach was a lone voice in speaking against awarding the tennis centre contract to Nicholson Construction.

“The tennis centre concept is very good, and I like tennis too, but I just don’t think we should be committing the next council to further borrowings or debt,” she said.