{"id":183390,"date":"2017-07-07T16:10:42","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T06:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=183390"},"modified":"2020-09-10T11:35:40","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T01:35:40","slug":"hall-car-park-plan-in-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/07\/07\/hall-car-park-plan-in-doubt\/","title":{"rendered":"Hall Car Park Plan In Doubt"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Blackbutt’s Memorial Hall has been reassembled on its new site in Bowman Road and seems on schedule to be handed back to the South Burnett Regional Council this month<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Finance portfolio chair Cr Ros Heit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July 7, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

The future of Blackbutt Memorial Hall’s $500,000 car park and landscaping has been thrown into doubt after the South Burnett Regional Council failed to get a matching contribution from the State Government.<\/p>\n

In March, the Council lodged an application with the Building Our Regions (BOR) fund to pay for half the cost.<\/p>\n

But this week, when successful BOR Round 3 grant applications were announced, the Hall project was not among them.<\/p>\n

The Hall has been moved from its original location in Coulson Street to a new site off Bowman Road to make way for a supermarket.<\/p>\n

At the Council’s March meeting, Cr Ros Heit said she had “an issue” with a cost of $500,000-plus to set up footpaths, a 22-bay car park and landscaping for the Hall. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Cr Heit said she supported a supermarket development in Blackbutt, and thought the Hall\u2019s new location was a good one.<\/p>\n

She said having the developer upgrade the Hall to comply with current standards as part of the relocation project was a good thing, too.<\/p>\n

But paying $500,000 to put in a sealed car park, footpaths and landscaping was not.<\/p>\n

“Firstly, Blackbutt residents were told there would be no or a very minimal cost to ratepayers to relocate the Hall,” Cr Heit said in March.<\/p>\n

“$500,000-plus is a lot of money, and I think we are betraying not only Blackbutt\u2019s residents but all South Burnett residents if we spend this sort of money on unnecessary infrastructure.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“There are nearly 20 halls in the South Burnett, most of which don\u2019t have disability access toilets, are old and desperately in need of maintenance, and certainly don\u2019t have a bitumen line-marked car park.<\/p>\n

“Secondly, the hall is a valuable community asset that is used for big functions once or twice a year, and smaller functions every couple of months, and I don\u2019t believe this level of usage justifies the need for a bitumen carpark.<\/p>\n

“Council assesses the need to seal roads on the basis of traffic counts, and I think the traffic count for this road would be less than one a day.<\/p>\n

“If we have a spare $500,000 there are plenty of dangerous roads that could be improved with that sort of money which would get a lot more traffic.”<\/p>\n

Cr Heit then went on to give grudging support to a motion to apply for co-funding from BOR, saying a 50 per cent subsidy made the redevelopment a more attractive proposition.<\/p>\n

But she warned that if the application were unsuccessful, making the entire $500,000 outlay from Council’s funds would be “a betrayal of our obligation to deliver prudent financial management”.<\/p>\n

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