Victoria University no longer wants its land at the Karori campus, and the Ministry of Education wants to buy a chunk of it. But negotiations have reached an impasse.

Government ministers and council top brass have been called in to deal with an increasingly ugly spat between the Ministry of Education and Victoria University over the former Karori teachers' college.

At the root of the dispute is land at the campus, being sold by the university. Wellington City Council has already secured a parcel, but no agreement has been reached on a chunk wanted by the ministry for a schools' technology hub.

The ministry thought it was still negotiating to buy the land under the Public Works Act, and says it was about to put in an offer when the university put the sale out to open tender.

CAMERON BURNELL/ STUFF The 3.7-hectare Karori campus site in Wellington has tennis courts, pools, a hall, music suites, a gymnasium and classrooms.

The university says it has received no "workable offers" from the ministry, and has complied fully with the act.

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A high-level group of officials and politicians met on Tuesday to discuss the impasse in negotiations. A source told Stuff the status of those at the meeting showed just how serious the stoush had become.

They included Wellington Mayor Justin Lester, council chief executive Kevin Lavery, caretaker Education Minister Nikki Kaye, Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson, and local councillor Diane Calvert.

Under the Public Works Act, the university was required to negotiate first with government or local body agencies once it decided it no longer needed the land.

Wellington City Council is understood to have paid market rate for some of the land, in part to provide parking for Karori Pool.

But the ministry – which originally sold the land to the university for a peppercorn price – wanted the remaining flat land. It was seemingly under the impression that negotiations were still under way when the university put the property on the open market.

This week, Calvert released a letter she received from education secretary Iona Holsted, in which Holsted wrote: "On 3 October I received correspondence from [university vice-chancellor Grant Guilford] which implies that he considers the Public Works Act process has been completed. The ministry does not agree with this position.

"It is disappointing that we appear to now be renegotiating a process that we understood had already been agreed, and I hope this matter can be quickly resolved."

Guildford said on Friday: "The university is fully compliant with the Public Works Act. After 18 months of dialogue with officials, we received no workable offers for the main campus site. We have now moved into a formal tender process.

"If the Ministry of Education decides to make an offer, it will be considered alongside other offers received through the formal tender process.

"We will not be accepting any offer or entering into discussions (other than assisting with due diligence inquiries) until after the close of the formal tender process on Friday 24 November 2017.

"The extent to which a range of community benefits are demonstrated will be considered when deciding whether or not to accept an offer for the site."

Calvert said she and her fellow councillors looked forward to negotiations "reaching a satisfactory outcome for all parties". Councillors would continue to advocate "for the continuation and expansion of community activities on any part of the site that is not subject to the Public Works Act".