OCTOBER 9, 2018 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + PROPERTY GUIDE
(Damjan Janevski)
Aqua park’s big splash More than one million people have visited Craigieburn’s Splash Aqua Park and Leisure Centre since it opened its doors a year ago. The $35.5 million centre celebrated its first birthday last Tuesday with a family fun day featuring a twilight Zumba dance party, entertainment and a free barbecue. Since it’s opening, visitors to Splash have zoomed down the centre’s two waterslides 40,000 times and taken part in more than 680 swimming lessons each week. In the gym, members have run 176,212 kilometres on the treadmills – enough to circle the Earth’s equator more than four times. Members have also sweated their way through 4556 group fitness classes and booked in more than 20,000 health consultations. Hume mayor Geoff Porter said the centre offered community members many ways to have fun, relax or achieve fitness goals. “Over the past year, members and guests have visited Splash over a million times – what a fantastic achievement for the health and wellbeing of our community,” he said. “Hume City Council is working to provide our community the facilities they need and that continue to make Hume a great place to live.” HUME MAYOR GEOFF PORTER
Laura Michell
No cash for Whittlesea By Laura Michell Whittlesea will miss out on Pick My Project funding as all 30 of the municipality’s submissions failed to attract enough votes. The $30 million initiative was launched by the state government earlier this year to give communities a say in the projects and programs they wanted funded in their local areas. Residents and local groups were asked to submit their ideas, with the community then
given the chance to vote for their top three projects. The government funded 18 projects in the northern metro region, which covers Whittlesea, Hume, Banyule, Darebin and Nillumbik, totalling $2.95 million. Submissions from Whittlesea groups included a high ropes course in Epping North, bike shelters in Whittlesea and upgrades to the cricket nets at Laurimar Recreation Reserve. The municipality’s most popular project was a laundry van for homeless people living in and
around Thomastown. The project attracted 175 votes but that was not enough. Thomastown MP Bronwyn Halfpenny said she was “bitterly disappointed” that no projects in her electorate were successful. “All the proposals that I have seen were extremely well thought out … but voters have spoken and those with the greatest number of votes succeeded,” she said. “I ask anyone who was not successful to contact me to discuss other options in future.” Yan Yean MP Danielle Green said Mernda,
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Doreen and South Morang residents would benefit from the successful proposal to create a mountain bike trail at Plenty Gorge Park. Four projects across Hume were successful. Campbellfield’s Second Chance Animal Rescue will receive funding to build a not-for-profit animal hospital, while Gladstone Park Secondary College will receive money to build an agricultural centre. LifeHouse Church’s proposal for a multi-sensory room in Westmeadows and Sunbury SES’ bid for a new training room were also successful.
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