By Marcus Uhe
The City of Casey has prepared three funding submissions to the State Government’s Growing Suburbs Fund in order to upgrade critical infrastructure within the City.
Renewals to the Hampton Park Community House, Fairhaven Children’s Centre in Cranbourne West and Camms Road Maternal and Child Health Centre in Cranbourne are the three projects chosen, with a total value of $1.235m requested.
The funding would cover the entire projects costs for the Community House ($970,000) and half of both the Children’s Centre ($135,000) and Maternal and Child Health Centre ($130,000), with the gap to be covered by ratepayers.
The Community House renewal has been identified as priority one for the council, followed by Fairhaven and Camms Road Maternal and Child Health facility, respectively.
The Community House upgrade will see a new three-year-old kinder service introduced in 2023, renewing children’s amenities and play areas and realigning office spaces.
According to the council, 8.3 per cent of the Hampton Park community are on long-term unemployment benefits, ranking in the top 20 per cent among Victorian suburbs.
Low percentages of residents with a higher education qualification (51 per cent) or Year 10 or below schooling (31 per cent) represents a low-skilled community vulnerable to industry shifts, increasing the reliance on services provided at the Community House.
Fairhaven’s renewal will see the creation of a designated breast-feeding area and a safe and inclusive Maternal and Child Health waiting area, along with maintenance improvements to the building.
At Camms Road, an accessible toilet will be provided and the kitchen will be renewed, to coincide with environmentally sustainable design improvements, landscaping and improvements to maternal and child health rooms.
The Growing Suburbs Fund is a State Government initiative designed to maintain the timely delivery of infrastructure in Melbourne peri-urban and interface communities.
The program supports projects that have a direct benefit to communities and meet a broad range of infrastructure categories, including community health and wellbeing, early education, sport and recreation, and purpose-built facilities that respond to the needs of Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander communities.
If these applications are successful, the projects will be reflected in the 2022/23 budget.
“We’re appreciative that this is a State Government funded program and I know that officers are always very keen to submit a number of projects to this funding,” City of Casey chair of administrators Noelene Duff PSM said at Tuesday 19 July’s council meeting.
“It’s been an ongoing funding source that is really a very helpful one to council.”
