With Sunbury’s Global Learning Centre (GLC) on the way, services in Macedon Street are in for a reshuffle – and not everyone’s happy.
Sunbury Visitor Information Centre will be moved from its current home in the Old Sunbury Courthouse into the learning centre.
A move Sunbury Residents Association has described as a “travesty”.
In a letter to the council, association president Peter Free said the decision to move the information centre was made “without any community notice”. Last week he told Star Weekly: “The best place for the information centre is where it is”.
“It will be swallowed up in the Global Learning Centre.”
A report to the council last month stated that both staff and volunteers of the information centre were “very excited” about the move.
But Mr Free, also a member of the learning centre’s advisory committee, said the plan to relocate the information centre had been “unanimously rejected” at GLC Community Consultative Committee meetings.
He said the current location and stand-alone building was the most accessible option for an information centre because buses and caravans could park outside.
Mayor Drew Jessop said the centre’s new home ensured it would have access to modern facilities and provided “ease-of-use for residents and visitors by bringing services to one central location”.
As part of the GLC project, the Sunbury Library will be moved to the Sunbury Youth Centre from December while the learning centre is being built.
The old library will be demolished and a new one will be included in the learning centre. The George Evans Museum will close from December during construction.
“During this period, council staff and volunteers will catalogue and … digitise the museum collection,” Cr Jessop said.
Hume Global Learning Centre – Sunbury is expected to open in 2019.
In July, the council moved that any future use of the courthouse would be in consultation with the community.
It has not responded to the association’s letter.
