Rail trail to extend into station area
UNDER the draft master plan now realised for the Leongatha Railway Site, the Great Southern Rail Trail would extend to the station area.
Produced by council’s senior strategic planner Chantal Lenthall, the master plan includes plenty of the ideas the community put forward during the consultation period.
However some South Gippsland Shire Council councillors were disappointed the Leongatha railway site transformation draft masterplan did not include a giant cow shaped entrance.
The cow was the brainchild of a group of Leongatha Secondary College students, one of more than 140 ideas put forward by the community at meetings, events and online.
The plan includes the reinstatement of the bridge linking Bair Street to the railway yard, which would also connect to an extended car park.
Under the plan, the Great Southern Rail Trail will be extended from Horticultural Park.
A large grassed performance/market space, a traffic school, fitness equipment, a permanent stage and more car parking also featured in the proposal.
Ms Lenthall said while the return of trains to Leongatha is beyond council’s power, in the meantime people want to see the site improved.
Council’s manger planning Paul Stampton said the plan had been conscious to preserve the rail corridor.
Cr Andrew McEwen said he expects to see trains back in Leongatha in the next seven to 10 years, which needed to be allowed for.
Cr Alyson Skinner questioned why the plan didn’t include any figures or estimations of cost and said the park needs to feature something, like the giant cow, to make it an amazing place to be.
Mr Stampton said work has been done to determine what funding would be needed for the first stage of the project, including the overhead bridge from Bair Street, which was expected to cost around $300,000.
He said the cow could be funded at a later date, as an addition to the core project.
Cr McEwen said arts should be included in the masterplan and not “added on” at a later date.
“Art can be a really big drawcard, if we are going to do something to make it attractive, we need to build art into it,” he said.
Ms Lenthall said the draft masterplan is now available on the council’s website and will be displayed on Bair Street for the public to view.
It will be open for public feedback until October 17.
The level of contamination at the site and the feedback received from the community will form the basis of the final master plan.
“The final plan will be presented to the council hopefully at the December council meeting,” Ms Lenthall said.
Proposed: a map showing the proposed improvements to the impeding site transformation of the underutilised Leongatha rail yards.
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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Sep 26 2017. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
