WYNDHAM Council has again slammed the state government for not providing funding for key infrastructure.
Councillors used last week’s meeting to vent their frustrations about the city’s overcrowded roads, schools and leisure centres.
It’s the second month in a row that councillors have told Spring Street they are not prepared to wait for funding for necessary projects.
Last month, councillors voted to send a letter to Premier Ted Baillieu and Education Minister Martin Dixon, saying they could not wait until the May budget for funding to rebuild Galvin Park Secondary College.
Cr Shane Bourke last week took the government to task over its failure to fund upgrades to Wyndham’s busiest roads.
A report to council stated VicRoads had failed to fund Wyndham roads identified in a 2011 report as being at over capacity.
The report recommended council write to Mr Baillieu, Roads Minister Terry Mulder, Planning Minister Matthew Guy, VicRoads, Altona MP Jill Hennessy and Tarneit MP Tim Pallas highlighting the need for the roads to be upgraded.
But Cr Bourke urged his colleagues to do more. “It is groundhog day again. We have to try to think of something else to get them to listen. We are at the will of the government. It is the same thing year after year. We grow by [about 12,000] people every year and we are still in the same position.”
Cr Bourke questioned whether parts of
Melbourne with Liberal MPs were getting more funding, whether VicRoads was not distributing its funding properly or the government wasn’t providing enough funding.
His comments followed Cr John Menegazzo’s call for residents to contact the government and tell it why more funding must be provided for redevelopment of the Wyndham Leisure and Events Centre. The council says it cannot proceed until it receives more external funding.
