APRIL 22, 2015 \ WYNDHAM.STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + THE WEST’S BEST PROPERTY GUIDE
Road spend ‘too little’ By Laura Michell and Cameron Tait
■ Draft
Entrenched in history Werribee Primary School’s grade 3 pupil Emily was one of more than 400 Wyndham students given an insight into life in the trenches last week as part of an interactive education day at Kelly Park. A military re-enactment by Victoria’s Light Horse and Field Artillery Museum featured a horsedrawn field ambulance identical to those used in battle and was overseen by project manager Edward Dingle (pictured). Uniforms, helmets, guns, rifles and enlistment posters were on display, and there were educational talks by museum members and local veterans, and soldier boards detailing the names and stories of each of the 60 men from the Werribee district who lost their lives during World War I. (Shawn Smits)
Two Wyndham councillors have voted against the 2015-16 draft budget, arguing that the council’s proposed $20 million spend on roads is not enough. Councillors Intaj Khan and Heather Marcus raised their concerns with the proposed budget at a special council meeting on Monday, calling for the council to invest more money in local roads instead of the advocacy portion of the Get Wyndham Moving campaign. The draft budget includes $1 million for Get Wyndham Moving, half of which will be used to upgrade roads while the rest will be used for advocacy. The council has previously spent $2 million on the campaign. Cr Khan said Wyndham’s roads were unacceptable. “I’m extremely frustrated myself with the quality of our roads,” he said. His attack followed the leaking of a Facebook post by Cr Khan on April 14, in which he labelled Wyndham’s roads as “shocking” and urged the council to fix them because they were “not good enough to drive a Farrari (sic) 458 Italia”. Hitting back at Cr Khan’s criticism on Monday, Cr Marie Brittan rejected that the council was entirely to blame for the state of the city’s roads. “I’m really sorry your expensive car and our roads are not compatible, but you know that many of the roads are not our responsibility,” Cr Brittan said. Cr Marcus backed Cr Khan’s concerns about the state of Wyndham’s roads, saying that she would rather the council spent money on building and improving roads than on an advocacy campaign. She said the council should focus more of its attention on making it easier for residents to move around the municipality. The council plans to spend $5.1 million duplicating Leakes Road between Tarneit and Davis roads, $4.2 million reconstructing Dohertys Road between Fitzgerald and Foundation roads, $1.2 million on Blackforest Road between McGrath and Armstrong roads, and $6 million for road upgrades. Cr Gautam Gupta defended the draft budget, saying it was fair and balanced and met the needs of a growing city. “We can never get everything 100 per cent to everyone’s perfection … this budget has a clear direction for the future,” he said. budget details, page 4
Cameron Tait ■ Turn to pages 20 and 21 for Star Weekly Weekly’s Anzac Day coverage.
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