Inclusive plans open to public – City of Ballarat council meeting briefs

Runway upgraded cleared for take off

AFTER receiving seven expressions of interest, City of Ballarat councillors have given the tender to extend the Ballarat Airport runway to Fulton Hogan Industries.

Th move came at the last week’s regular council meeting and will see $5.4 million spent on the development.

Work is expected to take six months and will extend the main runway to 1800 metres with the aim of having larger aircrafts use the facility.

The 550-metre extension is set to cut through the current primary road, Airport Drive, and funding has been allocated by Regional Development Victoria for alternatives until a permenant replacement access road, Liberator Drive, is constructed.

The contract was awarded at less than the original sum set aside for the project in the 2022/23 budget, which was $6.2 million.

 

Inclusive plans go on show

Several draft plans are set for public exhibition as part of the municipality’s draft Inclusion Framework 2022/2026 after councillors gave the okay.

The framework is the City’s guide for inclusion throughout Ballarat, and includes draft plans for the Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, disabled, intercultural and ageing communities.

Each plan is open for feedback until Friday, 23 September, and Cr Belinda Coates said the documents highlight the “intersectionality” of residents.

“It really… acknowledges that people don’t fit into one neat category or box. It acknowledges that people might cross over into those different categories,” she said.

“If we, as a council, as an organisation, can get better at providing services and infrastructure and advocacy to things that relate to universal access and inclusion, everyone benefits.”

The frameworks and accompanying plans were drafted following community consultation earlier this year which saw 886 responses and was conducted through forums, a poll, interactive activities and an online survey.

 

Fate of property unknown

The fate of a property known as Victory House on Geelong Road in Canadian was brought to the table during question time with Chinese community member Charles Zhang advocating for the site’s protection.

Built in the early 1900s, the house was home to the family of Chinese miner James Chung for over 100 years.

Following development plans to demolish the house, Mr Zhang argued its importance in Ballarat’s Chinese and mining history.

“It is very significant to Ballarat and also Victoria particularly to the Ballarat Chinese community. In the past our physical heritage has been wiped away,” he said.

“We don’t have anything else that’s real with a true Chinese history. The only place we can go is the cemetery. That’s very sad.”

Council’s decision on Victory House will be on the agenda at their next ordinary meeting.

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said there was a lack of a “final conclusion” on the subject during their previous meeting, and they’ve since received new information about the house from Heritage Victoria.

“We’re now in a situation where Heritage Victoria have written back to us saying they don’t believe it to be of state significance but potentially of local significance,” he said.

Director of development and growth Natalie Robertson revealed the current owner cannot demolish the house pending investigation into its heritage significance.

 

New rules for question time

As part of the municipality’s revised governance rules, the deadline on written submissions for public questions at council meetings has been changed from 4.30pm to 12pm on the day of the meetings.

Written submissions were introduced during COVID lockdowns when council meetings moved to online delivery.

City of Ballarat CEO Evan King said the change to the submission window allowed for a continued greater transparency and a greater quality of response from the municipality.

“The proposal in front of councillors is to actually continue with that process and allow people to put in questions and put in submissions and not have to attend,” he said.

“[It] weighs in timelines around that that allow the officers to do some detailed research so the answers and data are factual-based so that we’re giving good, correct answers to the community.”

 

Tait Street works awarded

Council has given the work for the road reconstruction along Tate Street on the border of Sebastopol of Bonshaw to developer Pipecon at a cost of nearly $2.41 million.

The road works will run between Crown and Walker streets and includes 880 metres of upgrades with asphalt surfacing, line-marking, signage and drainage.

Cr Ben Taylor said it was “exciting” to see the project develop.

“The road has grown through a lot of different developers in that area. It’s deteriorating, a lot of water on the road. It’s a constant pain,”

“This is a great outcome. [I’m] very, very excited to have the works happen as soon as we can when it’s dryer to get in and upgrade Tait Street.”