Site selected for survivors’ memorial – City of Ballarat council meeting briefs

A LOCATION has been decided on a planned public art memorial for survivors of sexual assault.

City of Ballart councillors approved the choice of site last week during their regular meeting, with the monument set for Victoria Park, near a small lake just off Plane Avenue.

The municipality will allocate $520,000 from its public art program for the memorial and hope the remainder of the expected $1.5 million total cost will come from other levels of government.

First mooted in 2016, in part as a response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Cr Belinda Coates said the slower pace of planning has benefited the project.

“In retrospect, I’m glad we didn’t rush into something smaller earlier on, because whilst the process has been pretty lengthy it’s been a really deep and engaging community process,” she said.

“It’s become apparent that it’s really important for people to feel seen and heard and believed and supported and it aligns so well with our stance as a compassionate city as well.”

The project is being guided by the Continuous Voices Community Reference Group with designs based on workshops with survivors.

Work on the memorial expected be completed by 2025.

 

Budget feedback received

Following public release in April, residents were invited to provide feedback on the 2022/23 draft budget.

Six submissions were presented to council, and environmental concerns proved a hot topic with BREAZE president Mary Debrett urging that five per cent of the budget be allocated towards climate change prevention.

“I just think everything that’s being done to meet the actions of the carbon neutrality zero emissions action plan need to be accelerated,” she said.

Cr Amy Johnson commended the environmental input, and said more could be done.

“We’ve had some great advocates on council as far as the need for action on climate change,” she said.

“We’ve come a fair way over the last couple of council terms but there is still more to do.”

Another suggestion called for more support for field hockey, which one speaker said was integral for the sport’s continued expansion in the region.

 

Gardens to get new plan

A refresh of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens Master Plan has been approved following the completion of stage two landscaping works on northern the lakeside entrance, and Gothic fernery building.

The municipality will provide $250,000 for the overall project and Cr Mark Harris said a new plan was much needed.

“A lot of us in Ballarat have been sick of it. You go up there and it’s just not finished at the front,” he said.

“We need that area finished basically so it directs people to the gardens and it’s got some sense of totality around it.”

The original master plan has been in place since 1995, and work on the new document is expected to be completed in the next 12 months.

 

Truck concerns raised

Following recent truck incidents in Buninyong’s town centre, South Ward councillors advocated the City lobby the State Government to develop road safety measures like signage and heavy vehicle diversions in the area.

Cr Ben Taylor said with the town’s main shopping strip located at the bottom of a hill, this issue is not new.

“Over the years, there’s been a lot of near misses and there’s been a lot of concern by community,” he said.

“The problem is… there’s a mountain right at the top where the trucks come straight down, and they come through with no visual signage to say slow down.”

Mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said there is a need for a long-term traffic plan for the city and that some of the solutions are immediately feasible.

“Some of this long-term planning and some of it is some incredibly high dollars but there’s also some really quick fixes that can come out of this solution,” he said.

 

Plan open to public

A draft community infrastructure plan has opened for community feedback.

Proposed projects include three library developments, six community hubs, and a new youth hub, and Cr Johnson said works will balance out “inequity” across the city.

“We know that when our community have access to community spaces that are welcoming, accessible and free, where they can come together, socialise, collaborate, organise that our community can achieve incredible things,” she said.

The draft outlines the development of community facilities through to 2037 and is open to the public until Friday, 17 June.

 

Environmental elevation plan escalated

The City of Ballarat’s part in the Elevating Environmentally Sustainable Design project took a step forward with preparations underway to begin stage two of the scheme.

With research undertaken through stage one, the project aims to emphasise Ballarat’s climate action efforts in collaboration with 31 other Victorian councils.

Cr Coates supported the motion and said goals like community net zero carbon emissions and environmentally sound housing t were more feasible through the joint efforts of rural municipalities.

Council voted to establish an advisory committee for the project and to include it in the Ballarat Planning Scheme.