Promised fire station behind target dates

A NEW St Leonards-Indented Head Fire Station has fallen behind schedule as the project remains bogged in planning delays.

State government planning documents, submitted to the City of Greater Geelong in an application for tweaks to permit conditions, stated the new facility is “currently behind key project deadlines” ahead of its planned late-2022 opening date.

COGG has indicated support for changes to a permit for a new station at 1060 Murradoc Road, which includes extended opening hours and loosening construction conditions.

The Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) said the city’s earlier conditions would impact the viability of the fire station and further delay its commencement.

The city issued a construction permit for the site in June that included restricted training hours from 5.30pm to 9pm once a week, except for emergency use.

DJCS assessed the time constraint alongside senior Country Fire Authority (CFA) officers in recent weeks and concluded it would restrict the new station’s capacity to best serve its local community.

“Following that further review, CFA advised that there were some restrictions on hours of use which would impact the viability/useability of the facility for CFA’s volunteer firefighters, members and staff,” DJCS’s application stated.

“We believe this is consistent with our original application and subsequent responses to requests for additional information, in which we emphasised the need for flexibility in occupancy and hours.”

COGG had also required that the department’s building authority complete stormwater infrastructure before other construction could start, which DJCS argued would unnecessarily delay its build.

DJCS’s application said it believed its proposed changes would have “negligible” impact on surrounding properties.

COGG director of city planning and economy Gareth Smith said this week that the city was “supportive of the amendments”.

“The applicant did not object to the original permit conditions but has subsequently requested some modest changes after further considering the operational needs for the use of the fire station,” he said.

COGG advertised the proposed changes for three weeks to Tuesday (August 16), despite DJCS’s request to approve the changes without public consultation.

The government first revealed its plans for the $3.2-million St Leonards-Indented Head Fire Station in March, after announcing the upgrade of the current 40-year-old facilities in 2020.