By Jessica Micallef
The decision to return a Macedon house to the community has been welcomed by local supporters.
The former maternal and child health facility, located at 47 Victoria Street, has been unused since 2016.
The Victoria Street Neighbourhood House Working Group has long campaigned for the site to be transformed for community use.
Its wishes were granted last week when Macedon Ranges council agreed to stop the sale of the house.
Group member and Macedon resident Blake Byron-Smith said the group was thrilled with the decision.
“It’s great that eight out of the nine councillors threw their support behind it,” he said. “It’s a great vote of confidence.”
Mr Byron-Smith said a neighbourhood house was the ideal use for the vacant building.
“We’ve received interest from different allied health providers to have it available for appointments, for consultations, counselling, naturopaths, mental health practitioners and GP visits,” he said.
“The fact that it is close to all these other services like transport, kindergartens, local businesses … it’s walkable, you can ride your bike. It makes a lot of sense to activate this space again.”
Mr Byron-Smith said he believed money for stage one of the revamp of the building would be considered in council’s 2019-20 budget.
The future of the building was addressed at a council meeting in May last year and council officers were directed to defer the sale for nine months and conduct an expression of interest period to determine possible community use.
At last Wednesday’s council meting Cr Mandi Mees put forward a motion to stop the sale of the building. She said that while the council might not have a use for this building, the community did.
“They’re a strong group of dedicated community members who want to build a strong sustainable program,” she said. “This is an opportunity, a very unique opportunity.”
Cr Henry Bleak voted against the motion.
