childrens hub one step closer...

It was a wonderful moment in my time as a councillor to be able to attend a recent community meeting to talk about the development of a Children’s Hub for the Dandenong Ranges.


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It marked an important time for me in securing the long term future of Sherbrooke Children’s Centre (SCC).

Prior to me being elected to council in 2005, SCC faced an uncertain future, was facing closure by 2009 with very little support from the council of the day.


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April 2005: The SOSCC campaign received a lot of media coverage, this story was to commemorate 1 year of fighting to save SCC.

I was part of a group of parents (Save Our Sherbrooke Children’s Centre) who fought furiously to save SCC. I have worked very hard to raise the profile of children’s issues and the importance of good quality, community based long day care since my election to council. The hard work has paid off and there has been a complete turnaround and reinvestment in children’s services. Part of this investment includes the development and building of a Children’s Services Hub to cater for families of the Dandenong Ranges to the tune of over $5 million.


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September 2004: SCC was voted "The year of the built environment: our favourite place".

The community are excited about the prospect of a centre dedicated to the provision of children’s and family services.

The meeting was to talk about what sort of opportunities are available in the development of the hub, of course long day care, pre school, toy library and maternal child health services are part of the mix but some of the additional uses could be playgroup, gymbaroo, intervention services, family counselling, school holiday programs, mobile library visits, computer training for parents, the list goes on and on and the prospects are immense.

I am very keen to see the Children’s Hub used as a centre of excellence and utilised as a training facility for workers in the childcare industry. I think the hub could be a shining example of best practice for children’s services in local government.

I look forward to working with the community on this project and giving our children and their families the best start in life.

report from the round table 24th June

The Budget.....

Last night’s meeting saw the budget ratified for 2008/09. This year’s budget continues to have significant funding for the environment and council’s climate change commitment. I am very pleased that council is providing discrete funding (for the first time) for our Learning for Sustainability program. I have been aware of this program through my involvement with the Birdsland Environmental Education Centre and thought it was about time council put some desperately needed funding towards this great initiative. This program is currently underway in 70% of the shire’s schools and is a great mechanism to teach children (and the broader community) about sustainability.

Over the next few weeks I’ll talk about various initiatives that have been funded including our community education officer and local laws officer who have been funded specifically for the introduction of the Shire’s new Burning Off Local Law.

I’m also very pleased to see funding for the commencement of the Upwey Children’s Services Hub, something I have fought long and hard for.

However for this report I’ll focus on the specific capital works items for the Lyster Ward*, these include:
$10,000 For maintenance of the Heritage Caretaker Cottage at Birdsland, Belgrave Heights
$16,700 Selby Community House to complete the multipurpose shed
$70,000 Drainage improvements for Glen Rd, Belgrave
$5,000 Drainage improvements for Glenharrow Heights Rd, Belgrave
$12,000 Drainage improvements for Mountain Flat Road, Narre Warren East
$6,000 Drainage improvements for Osborne Avenue, Belgrave South
$13,000 Drainage rehabilitation for Colby Drive Belgrave South
$348,142 Road improvement special charge scheme for Courtney’s Road, Belgrave South
$211,961 Road improvement special charge scheme for Priors Rd, The Patch
$395,000 Road rehabilitation including kerb and channel for Selby Aura Rd, Selby
$25,000 Lockable Gate barrier for Kerr’s Lane, Lysterfield
$20,000 Investigation and Feasibility study for bridge replacement in Narre Warren East
$20,000 Township improvements for Belgrave South
$120,000 Streetscape Works (stage 4) for Belgrave
$29,500 Township improvements for Tecoma
$50,000 Car Park improvements for Birdsland, Belgrave Heights
$70,000 Installation of demonstration garden at Birdsland, Belgrave Heights
$10,000 Rehabilitation of vegetation at Minak Reserve, Selby
$50,000 Menzies Creek Reserve improvements, Menzies Creek
$36,000 Wellington Road Equestrian Trail, Belgrave South

$1,075,000 Monbulk Aquatic Centre improvements, Monbulk (plus $450,000 from 07/08)

Also to be completed in Lyster (these works started in 2007/08):

$393,000 Road improvement special charge scheme for Braeside Avenue, Sherbrooke
$315,000 Road improvement special charge scheme for Old Menzies Creek Road, Selby
$435,000 Construction of a roundabout for Belgrave Gembrook Road, Belgrave

* Lyster Ward includes the townships of Belgrave, Belgrave South, Belgrave Heights, Selby, Tecoma, Kallista, The Patch, Menzies Creek, Lysterfield, Sherbrooke, Narre Warren East, Emerald (part) & Monbulk (part).