By Alesha Capone and Charlene Macaulay
A Manor Lakes ambulance station site is still being sought by the state government – a year later than it expected to have a location secured.
In April last year, the government and Ambulance Victoria announced that paramedics who were to be based at the future station would work out of the Werribee ambulance station “until construction of the new branch is complete”.
At the time, Ambulance Victoria chief executive Tony Walker said the organisation was scoping a suitable location for the Manor Lakes station, with a site to be selected within the next month.
The station, which was scheduled to become operational later this year, was announced by the state government in November, 2016, as part of $500 million in funding for new ambulance stations to be built across Victoria.
When Star Weekly contacted the state government earlier this month to ask if a site had been selected for the Manor Lakes station, Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the government was “getting on with building a state-of-the-art 24-hour ambulance station in Manor Lakes”.
“We are currently working to find a suitable parcel of land that will provide the best possible ambulance service for the people of Wyndham,” she said.
According to a statement from Ms Hennessy’s office, a number of sites are being investigated, with design and construction of the new station to follow the land purchase.
Ambulance Victoria acting regional director Michael Georgiou said the Manor Lakes paramedics had been providing emergency response from their temporary base in Werribee for the past year while the organisation worked with the Department of Health and Human Services to secure “an appropriate location” for the new station.
