Meeniyan hub gets support

SOME 30 people gathered in Meeniyan last Wednesday night to discuss the possibility of establishing a community hub in the town.
A committee has been formed to explore potential sites and prepare a proposal to be presented to the community later in the year.
If developed, the Meeniyan facility would be the tenth for South Gippsland.
Euan McCowan has stepped in as chair of the Meeniyan community hub committee and said while it would be a shame to see the town’s Uniting Church building lost, it is not a viable home for a community hub.
He said the group present at the meeting unanimously agreed the community could not afford the ongoing costs associated with the building.
“The suggestion from the meeting was the Uniting Church should compensate the community when it sells the building,” he said.
“The money received should go towards funding a community hub.”
A range of uses were discussed for a potential hub, including professional services rooms, a social activities space, short courses and training, an agency for Centrelink and Medicare, community internet access and a youth drop in centre.
“These are services residents currently have to go out town to access and the concern is the population of Meeniyan is an ageing one,” Mr McCowan said.
“The committee will investigate other sites in the town suitable for a community hub and the services it will offer and report back to the community.”
South Gippsland Shire Council councillor Andrew McEwen attended the meeting and said it had a “good feeling”.
“Viable communities need to have spaces people can meet and connect, so the concept of a community hub is tried and true,” he said.
“The question is if there are enough people wanting to make it happen, is there support in the community.”
Cr McEwen said council has a draft community plan, looking at developing a policy for social infrastructure.
“I am hopeful that will be endorsed by council in June,” he said.

Home needed: chair of the newly formed Meeniyan community hub committee Euan McCowan said potential sites for the facility will be investigated.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on May 2 2017. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry