Works in the Burra confirmed

A STATE election pledge aimed at improving amenity in Sebastopol has got its first firm announcements with plans to plant more trees, improve the Yarrawee River Trail, and set up a community consultation group.

Back in September 2018, then candidate, now Member for Buninyong, Michaela Settle offered up $5 million for a range of projects aimed at improving the suburb.

Now she’s revealed where about 30 per cent of that money will go, through a program known as Spotlight on Sebastopol.

“Door knocking and talking to lots of locals, people just really felt Sebastopol had been left behind,” she said.

“The really special thing about Spotlight on Sebastopol is that the community has always been at the heart of it. We decided it was going to be community led, what the community wanted.

“We have this fantastic community reference group. We had some open days to see what people would like done.”

As part of the plans revealed last week $1.1 million will be spent on upgrades to the Yarrawee River Trail including pathway fixes and outdoor furniture.

A further $500,000 will be spent on tree planting in Sebastopol, addressing a shortfall in the current green canopy.

“The urban forest plan is very exciting,” Ms Settle said. “The City of Ballarat did an audit of trees… and they found that Sebastopol was really low in tree canopy.

“The best practice is something like a 40 per cent canopy and that just hasn’t been here.”

While the City of Ballarat will conduct the works by the river and planting the trees, mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said the municipality’s current tree planting plans wouldn’t be scaled back in the area.

“A couple of years ago the heavy focus was in Wendouree, a couple of thousand trees there. There’s been a couple of thousand now rolled out in Sebastopol with more still to come,” he said.

With the State Government setting in to fund the projects, Cr Moloney acknowledged the City had dropped the ball in some parts of the municipality.

“I’m not afraid to say that there are areas like Sebastopol, Wendouree and Delacombe that have been under invested in for years,” he said. “It’s great to see we’re catching up on these things.”

The final project announced as part of the program is a plan to be known as Connecting Sebastopol and funded to the tune of $150,000.

“It’s going to be run out of the Neighbourhood Centre and it’s really about trying to create a working community group,” Ms Settle said.

“There’ll be elements to it. Newsletters, a website or Facebook portals, but all trying to get community groups together.”

Cr Moloney welcomed the announcement of the Connecting Sebastopol program and said the group would still be important, even after the State funds ran out.

“There hasn’t been that strong residential voice,” he said. “Forming a Sebastopol community association… is critical to make sure people in Sebas start making decisions about Sebas.”

The City of Ballarat will undertake the capital works projects with planting and improvements expected to start soon.