Growing Winchelsea Public Meeting

Wed. 10th May 2023

Around 30 people attended.

• Thanks were expressed to Shannon Fielder of Surf Coast Shire for her assistance with the setup of Growing Winchelsea as an organisation, & planting seed for the Community Action Plan which eventually resulted in Lisa Jarvies being appointed as facilitator, albeit for a bigger project (scope & involvement) than initially envisaged. Also helped build better relations with senior Surf Coast Shire officers.
• Draft Budget 2023/2024: $10m to be spent in the immediate Winchelsea area in this year’s Draft Budget, but funds are being taken from other areas/projects. A Growing Winchelsea response to the draft budget on the way.
• Arboretum: an advocacy document is almost done, for use with grant/fund applications. QE2 grant completed (stone & trees)  with handover to Council in November. Caterpillar infestation has been treated, thanks to Council. A Wannon grant has been submitted, reasonably confident of $16,000 for Coopers Reserve planting & beautifcation. A $20k Qantas application has also been submitted. Noted that the east side Bennett St will get a few trees to exhaust current funds. A Terms of Reference for the Arboretum sub-committee has been defined too.
• Station Beautification: a stationeers application has been submitted. Planter box designs are nearing completion, and then grants to be sought. A mural is to be done on the childcare wall facing station – all approved, now a design needs to be decided further to consultation. May need to go to tender.
• Movies: the first couple of this year’s movies went well. However, termites in The Globe will affect the May & June films which will now be shown at the Shire Hall, the day has had to change to Tuesday.
• Mud Hut: a new design has been put to community. Alison Dean, Mike Tucker, Jacqui Doyle, Richard Butcher met Surf Coast Shire further to the petition. Councillors Heather Wellington, Adrian Schonfelder & Paul Barker took interest. A public meeting was held in Winchelsea – the majority of the community seem to support new design which is based on old design due to it already being made. Now expected to cost $185,000 + additional $80,000. The lesson is better consultation systems are needed by Surf Coast Shire.
• IGA: Sukoon spoke to a planned relocation and expansion, to a shop of 2200sqm (5x bigger) out of total 3500sqm (including 4 other shops) plus parking. An initially-planned restaurant has been scrapped due to the associated required-parking formula. Expecting an improved traffic flow eg. trucks will be able to drive through easily behind the shops (Austin St & Anderson St). There could possibly be apartments on top. Sukoon is seeking community support to build & reduce costs in particular a builders licence. Looks like the development has been generally approved, so it is now basically a funding issue. The old IGA site will probably become a bottle-shop.
• Community Action Plan: John reviewed the status Winchelsea as a designatedgrowth node. The CORA development may bring around 1000 jobs. Growth along the Great Ocean Road is limited and suffers poor affordability. Lorne is an example of a town dying as people are priced out. A range of solutions has been suggested, but it is hard to solve the issues of accommodation being unaffordable & unavailable. There is a likely general impact on the growth of Winchelseas, hence Growing Winchelsea are driving to control & direct development in the town. Lisa Jarvis reviewed the Community Action Plan, its challenges & the survey results. Lots of ideas, on top of the existing projects eg arboretum. Christmas carols has emerged as a surprise major request. Threads & themes are to be put into document. Postcards will be in postboxes soon. There is a Community Cafe on 19th to discuss survey outcomes.