A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl\u2019s request to install a footpath at Alfredton\u2019s Windsor Avenue has left the city looking at concrete solutions to a years-old problem.<\/p>\n
With no footpaths around her suburb, Felicity Driscoll and other kids are often forced to walk by the curb or on the street on their way to school.<\/p>\n
She said the issue was especially apparent with recent wet weather.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to go to the road but staying near the grass. When we get near the footpath, it\u2019s way better, but for the rest of it it\u2019s all soggy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a girl with roller-skates who has to go on the road and back up to the grass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Felicity\u2019s mother Natasha said it\u2019s been a persistent source of frustration since they moved to the suburb five years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get footpaths along Sturt and Cuthberts and then Elaine Avenue connects to that, and then there\u2019s nothing that connects Sturt to Cuthberts anywhere else,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be nice if a footpath was on the main thoroughfare where it gets really busy. The corner of Elaine and Windsor Avenue just becomes slop lately and too wet to walk on.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of a school assignment, Felicity wrote a letter to then-City of Ballarat mayor Cr Daniel Moloney in August asking for a footpath for Windsor Avenue.<\/p>\n
The response, which cited the obstacles of retrofitting costs and project priorities, prompted Felicity to create a petition for the issue, garnering around 70 signatures before soggy conditions prevented her from collecting more.<\/p>\n
With more than 100 footpath projects listed by the municipality, City of Ballarat director of infrastructure and environment Bridget Wetherall said there are many factors regarding prioritisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith these projects, for each budget cycle, we assess them on costs, the length of footpath and what other challenges might be at that site,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As footpaths were previously not a requirement for developers to build in some suburbs, Ms Wetherall said the city is \u201cplaying catch up\u201d with budget constraints front of mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an inherited issue from decisions made in the past. We just have to address it as budget allows,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gentrification of different areas and the people moving in is really influencing how people utilise those assets. What was considered appropriate back then may not be so now.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than $600,000 has been allocated in the 2022\/23 budget for installing footpaths, which Ms Wetherall said equates to about three kilometres\u2019 worth of new construction.<\/p>\n
Felicity brought the issue to councillors for question time during their regular meeting in December.<\/p>\n
Cr Moloney called for a report to come to council at a later meeting to discuss the outstanding footpath list.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an ongoing issue that keeps popping up every budget cycle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
City of Ballarat CEO, Evan King said there are parts of the city that \u201chave no funding at all\u201d for footpaths and that a report could be brought to council on the list of requests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m certainly happy to bring a briefing back to council to have a look at that list\u2026 the costing of it\u2026 [and] the current budget allocation and whether there\u2019s any opportunity to start to look at whether we can make some inroads,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Felicity recently read her letter in a public presentation to her classmates.<\/p>\n
Although she said she\u2019s happy with council\u2019s response, Natasha isn\u2019t holding out hope for anything to be built right away.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great outcome and I would love to see something sooner rather than later,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it\u2019s a budget issue but\u2026 it\u2019s something that\u2019ll help the community for the better and council\u2019s always saying they want people to be more active.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd a road like this that\u2019s connecting two main arterial roads right near schools and public spaces, you\u2019d think would be pretty high on a priority list.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl\u2019s request to install a footpath at Alfredton\u2019s Windsor Avenue has left the city looking at concrete solutions to a years-old problem. With no footpaths around her suburb, Felicity Driscoll and other kids are often forced to walk by the curb or on the street on their way to school. She said the […]<\/p>\n