A group of Macedon residents is campaigning for a vacant council building to be retained and developed into a community facility or neighbourhood house.
The group has been pushing for the idea since hearing of the council’s decision in February to sell the former maternal and child health property at 47 Victoria Street, Macedon.
While the group missed the 28-day period to provide feedback on the decision, the council has said it would still consider the group’s submission when deciding about the sale but has rejected requests to extend the consultation period, which closed on April 9.
The group of about 80 residents from Macedon and Mount Macedon want the council to keep the building to become a community asset.
Macedon mother Anastasia Clunies-Ross is one of the residents advocating that the building be used for a community purpose, such as a men’s shed, bike school or neighbourhood house.
“It’s sad that Macedon doesn’t have any sort of council or community or neighbourhood centre,” Ms Clunies-Ross said.
She said most other Macedon Ranges towns had a community place, which Macedon was without, despite interest from the close-knit community.
The group has a range of ideas for the space, including a playgroup room, tutoring space and location for youth services.
Ms Clunies-Ross said the general feeling among the group was that if the council decided to go ahead and sell the property, profit from the sale should be put back into a project for Macedon.
The council will make a decision on whether to sell the property at its next meeting on May 23.
