Residents push back on medical centre site

Winchelsea residents living near a proposed medical centre say the project is ill-suited for the neighbourhood and should be built elsewhere.

Planning documents have been lodged with the Surf Coast Shire for a two-storey building at 45 Main Street, but nearby residents say they have concerns about traffic, parking, pedestrian safety, amenity and neighbourhood character.

Objections to the permit close this Friday 5 June but some residents say they only found out about the application a week into the 14-day exhibition period.

The Orbit Medical building has an estimated cost of $1.1 million and would contain consulting rooms, treatment spaces, administration areas and on-site car parking.

“The location is well suited to a community-serving medical facility given its accessibility, visibility and proximity to existing services within the township,” planning documents state.

Kane Rawson, who lives immediately behind the proposed site, said on Friday last week he was hopeful the application would be knocked back as long as the shire was genuine about listening to the community.

“But if they’re not listening, it’ll go ahead because you’ve got over 30 people objecting and if those 30 individuals aren’t heard, then what’s the point of it all?” he said.

Rawson acknowledged many young families were moving into Winchelsea and a new medical centre was needed in the town.

“It’s just the location,” he said.

“It just seems like a very poor choice where there’s commercial land on Hesse Street just behind the IGA that used to be a medical centre and they’ve subdivided it. There’s land available.

“There’s plenty of other places that are safe and have the parking and are more suited to it.”

The houses on that part of Main Street are located in a service road running alongside the dual carriageway Princes Highway.

Rawson said locals already drove along the service road too quickly and having a medical centre there could lead to a serious accident.

“All it’s going to take is for someone to park their car – I’ve almost done it myself.– the door opens, bang,” he said.

“It’s a major safety concern. All it’s going to take is one accident and then it’s too late.

“I don’t want to keep the town how it is. I want infrastructure. I want things like that. But the priority is the safety of people that live here. You’ve got to feel like you can walk around and be safe.”

Glenda Jeffs is also concerned about safety, saying the service road had a hazardous entry just beyond Hesse Street and also contained a bus stop for school children.

She said rezoning the site from residential to commercial would set a precedent on the south side of Main Street.

“The service road was originally not designed to carry the additional traffic from the now-adjoining estates at the rear, let alone a commercial precinct, unlike the other side of the highway,” she said.

Winchelsea Ward councillor Adrian Schonfelder met with residents outside 45 Main Street on Friday last week.

He said he had not formed a position on the application if and when it came before the council.

“I always keep an open mind but I feel as though the residents have very valid concerns about this, and they are not against having more medical facilities but in the right place,” he said.

“That’s the message I’m getting and it’s important for me to hear those feelings.”