Lesley Hewitt
Support for the Daylesford Hospital Upgrade is one of the key parts of the Council Plan and fits with our Municipal Health and Well Being Plan. Residents will know well that whilst the services are provided with great care and skill, the buildings inthe Daylesford Hospital precinct are not up to modern standard. To this end, the Community Committee which I chair has been very active this month with media coverage in the Local, the Courier and on ABC Ballarat. The aim is to get a state government commitment to fund the upgrade. In addition to the media coverage we met with Georgie Crozier, the Shadow Minister for Health earlier in the week. There is a report on that meeting in this edition of the Wombat Post.
While many of you will be aware of the condition of the Hospital, you may not know that our area is worse than the state average on several health and well-being indicators including asthma, heart disease, obesity, cancer incidence and smoking and tobacco use. Our population is ageing and so we could expect that demands in these areas will only increase. But it’s not only adult wellbeing factors that are worse than the state average – indicators for our children and young people are worse than in many areas including low birth weight, breast feeding, emotional/behaviour/speech problems at school entry and developmental vulnerable in two or more areas. This just highlights why it’s important for us to have access to up-to-date health facilities. The health indicators sound bad, but the great thing is that this community is active and engaged and has already got behind the campaign by donating $100,000 in just eight weeks to fund the Masterplan. It is important that we keep writing to our politicians in Macedon and Ripon to let them know that this is an important issue for us.
Hepburn Shire CEO, Bradley Thomas, Cr Bray and I attended a community meeting where residents raised concerns about the application from Dan Murphy’s for a liquor license to sell packaged liquor. The CEO explained that there was an existing permit for a supermarket on the site and that the planning scheme rules allowed for this to be amended to a shop. Council planning schemes operate under the state planning laws and must comply within that framework. As the CEO explained, the only avenue for residents to object (or support) the application for a permit to sell liquor on the site is through the Victorian Liquor Commission. Details were provided in last week’s edition of the Wombat Post about how tyou can lodge an objection.
Council’s next regular meeting on August 16th is full with a number of planning decisions, the Positive Ageing Strategy and Sustainable Hepburn included. The agenda is available on the Council website at https://www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/Council/Council-meetings/Agendas-and-minutes
Finally I hope that you had a chance to get to see Borealis. It is spectacular, whatever the weather, on Thursdays through Sundays each week. And residents are eligible for a discount on tickets.
As always, I’m happy to be contacted on 0408793941 or by email lhewitt@hepburn.vic.gov.au
