Willis Street site earmarked for ambulance station

AMBULANCE Victoria (AV) has dropped its plan for an ambulance station in Winchelsea’s Harding Street, opting for land in Willis Street instead.

The exhibition period for a planning permit lodged by AV with the Surf Coast Shire at 33 Willis Street began on Monday.

According to the permit, the site on the corner of Willis Street/Princes Highway and Jackson Road would contain an ambulance station with an attached drive-through four-bay garage.

The station would be operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week and would have seven staff, with more on shift during daytime peak periods.

A traffic impact assessment report carried out by Melbourne consultants TrafficWorks states the development “would not adversely impact on the safety or operation of the surrounding road network and that there would be no traffic or parking grounds that would prevent this development from proceeding” if two recommendations are followed: installing a “No U Turn” sign on approach to the new median opening on the Princes Highway to discourage vehicles from using it instead of Jackson Street, and installing “ambulance station” warning signs in both directions on Willis Street.

Under the original plan, first raised in May, AV offered to buy shire-owned land at 42 Harding Street.

However, objectors said they supported an ambulance station coming to Winchelsea but believed the proposed site could be put to better use for the community.

The shire deferred its decision about AV’s offer in July, and AV agreed to consider alternative sites.