Wyndham council has its sights set on securing $30 million from the next state government to finally fix Dohertys Road.
The funding wish forms part of the Interface Councils’ Fairer Funding report, which was released last week and warns that Melbourne’s outer suburbs are in desperate need of more state funding.
The group, made up of the 10 councils forming a ring around metropolitan Melbourne, are concerned that their municipalities will become “ghettos” if the next state government does not invest more money in their area.
The councils say their municipalities have hosted close to 50 per cent of Melbourne’s growth in the past five years but received only 7 per cent of the capital works funding in this year’s state budget.
The report includes an electorate by electorate funding wishlist.
The Werribee electorate wishlist asks for $159.5 million, including $60 million in 2015-16 and 2016-17 to grade-separate Cherry Street.
The report also seeks $33.3 million and $99 million for the Tarneit and Altona electorates respectively. Topping that wishlist is $15 million in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to duplicate Dohertys Road between Fitzgerald Road and Grieve Parade.
Last year, the council and Laverton North businesses launched a campaign for the road to be duplicated, arguing that the rural road from the 1960s could no longer cope with the volume of truck traffic that used it daily.
Laverton North is home to a third of Wyndham’s businesses, with more than 30,000 people working in the area.
Wyndham mayor Bob Fairclough said the municipality faced future problems if it did not get a fairer share of state funding.
“Costs to government in future can be reduced if the right decisions are taken today,” he said.
The Interface Councils have asked the Liberal and Labor parties to commit to spending $4 billion in five years to improve roads in outer suburbs, $197 million in recurrent funding every year to improve bus services, $200 million a year to help pay for community infrastructure, and $50 million a year in low-interest loans to provide additional infrastructure at the discretion of the councils.
