By Jessica Micallef
Macedon Ranges council will apply for $1.26 million funding to complete the Romsey Eco Therapy Park.
Macedon Ranges mayor Jennifer Anderson last week said the council would apply for funding through the federal government’s Building Better Regions Fund, to help “the project to become a reality”.
The Romsey Eco Therapy Park has been a nine-year labour of love to transform the former Romsey Primary School site on Main Street into a wellbeing hub.
The site had been unused for more than a decade before work on the park began.
The Greater Romsey All-Abilities Park Committee has worked with the council to design a space where people of all ages and abilities can have a sensory and therapeutic experience in nature.
Stage one of the park, which included the refurbishment of the former Romsey Primary School building and its transformation into a community health centre, was completed in June this year.
Stage two, which covers the remainder of the site, has not yet been funded.
However, the park committee recently received a boost, with $200,000 to build a climbing forest at the park as part of the state government’s Pick My Project funding scheme.
Earlier this month the Labor government also pledged $718,000 towards the park if it wins next month’s state election.
The council initially applied for a $1.1 million grant but has increased it to $1.26 million in order to provide adequate car parking and road treatment works at the park’s site.
