| By Anthony Radford - Feature Story
Looking ahead
Bendigo Weekly journalist Anthony Radford looks forward at what’s in store for Bendigo next year
THIS time of year, newspapers are full of stories looking back at what happened over the past 12 months.
While interesting to some, it seems the primary role of this is to fill pages during what is traditionally a quiet time of year for news.
As well as letting its readers know what has happened, the Weekly also prides itself on
informing its readers on what will or is likely to happen in the future.
Therefore, here are a few things you can look forward to seeing in our paper in the next 12 months.
The year will be bookended with two events that could well be linked.
The first major news item expected to hit the streets in the new year will be the saga surrounding the Epsom supermarket.
While most are probably sick of the to-ing and fro-ing of the City of Greater Bendigo council and the Epsom Huntly Action Group, it is set to dominate news cycles early in the year.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal is set to hear Munro Corporation’s bid to build its supermarket in the Midland Highway in January.
Council staff will be forced to defend at VCAT a decision they did not agree with. The staff recommended the main parts of the approval be rejected, but the council approved it.
Also thrown into the mix during that debate will be the fact council is not using its normal lawyers – Melbourne-based firm Russell Kennedy – to defend its stance because it used those lawyers to defend the rival Howard Street plan on council-owned land.
That plan will also hit the news early in the year, with work expected to begin on demolishing the former recreation reserve at Howard Street and construction of the rival FKP supermarket.
EHAG members have vowed to stand in front of the bulldozers when they start, images that are sure to be beamed around the state. Shortly after the VCAT hearing, another anti-council rally will be held, probably in February.
If work on Howard Street begins beforehand and becomes a PR nightmare, more people might be attracted to the rally than were for this year’s.
Roads could be on the agenda in the first half of the year, with positive announcements regarding the finishing date for the Calder duplication and possible movement on a ring road for the city in the mix. Mid year could be the turning point for one of the city’s most important institutions – the Bendigo hospital.
Bendigo Health is asking for a bit less than $10 million in the May state budget for a stop-gap redevelopment of its Emergency Department.
It will be the interim step as part of the much-needed $400 million redevelopment of the entire hospital.
A community campaign in the lead-up to the budget will put pressure on the government and highlight the major redevelopment and the funding needed for that in the 2009 budget.
Work should begin on the Chinese Precinct next year, and hopefully something will start to happen on the site of the planned pagoda next to the Golden Dragon Museum.
Lobbying is also underway for the federal government to match the Coalition’s pledge to fund the walk of remembrance at the RSL Memorial Hall in Pall Mall.
That could also be on the agenda next year, as with serious work on the federal government’s Super Clinic plan in Arnold Street.
Expect a more detailed masterplan and funding study, though, before that goes any further, with up to $3 million still outstanding from the proposal.
A site for a new tip should come to light in 2008, although it might not be in Bendigo.
The City of Greater Bendigo council was forced to dump its plans for a tip at Huntly this year, and work is feverishly underway to find a new site.
There is land available Junortoun way, and Sita has plans to build a tip of their own near Bridgewater, which could solve our city’s waste disposal problems.
One thing that is guaranteed won’t be built in 2008 is a new multi-storey car park. The council is still a long way from even choosing a suitable site for the development, and with opinion being there is no car parking crisis, there will be no rush.
Once the best site is chosen, the detailed planning work could take more than a year.
The council is, however, lobbying to build a museum somewhere in the city.
It wants to turn the right hand side of the old post office into an area to host revolving displays of the city’s past.
The former federal government had a working plan to re-build the law courts next to the new police station and use the old court building, perhaps the most impressive in the city, as a museum, but that went down with the ship.
One thing that is likely to be completed this year is the redevelopment of Hargreaves Mall. More money will be committed in the budget mid year, to enable the second stage of development to go ahead.
The council will be keen to see the project completed before the November elections, as its management of major projects has attracted a lot of criticism from within and without over the past three years.
The year will end in a blaze of glory, with council elections in late November.
Whatever the result it will be very, very newsworthy.
Current councillors will face a strong campaign from opposition groups hoping to repeat the previous
elections, where the majority of sitting councillors were thrown out, mostly over the tram-around-the-lake issue.
If most of the current councillors who run, win, that should be enough to dampen criticism of their performance.
All in all, it should be a fascinating year that will keep Bendigo Weekly and www.bendigoweekly.com.au readers informed and entertained.
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