By Ann Marie Angebrandt
ONE of Hobson Bay’s most disadvantaged suburbs is on the cusp of transformation.
That’s the feeling of Laverton residents, who, last Thursday, stood with local and state politicians to launch part of a $630,000 program aimed at reinvigorating their suburb over the next three years.
“We are highlighting a history of a lack of planning. We now have the opportunity to look at everything that isn’t right and fix it,” Michael Pernar, executive officer of the Laverton Community Centre, said.
Laverton is among eight Melbourne suburbs – including Craigieburn, Frankston North, and Rosebud West – to be nominated for the State Government’s community renewal program.
It was given $100,000, $50,000 from the State Government and a similar amount from Hobsons Bay City Council last week, to fix streets and footpaths, plant trees, and paint a bridge along Bladin St, one of the main roads in the suburb of 4700 residents.
Laverton will also have access to a pool of about $4 million for local priorities, which must be matched by local government.
The program will help build the suburb’s first prep to year 12 school on the site of the present Laverton Secondary College, as well as a regional school for autistic children.
The Laverton Community Centre, which has already begun its own upgrade, will receive money to help it continue co-ordinating a range of services “from the umbilical cord to the grave”, said Mr Pernar.
The program has helped address other local concerns since Laverton joined it some six months ago.
Noise wall panels along the Princes Fwy have been repaired, a new children’s centre opened, and a local employment program established.
The Laverton Action Group, which groups residents, community leaders, politicians and traders, has a 10-year makeover plan for the suburb, kick-started by the community renewal funding.
From a once-thriving little hub that developed during World War I to service RAAF Base Williams – now the world’s oldest operating military base – the community has had its share of ups and downs.
Defence was the major employer until the early 1990s, providing jobs for about 40 per cent of Laverton residents.
But an era of high local unemployment began when the airbase was decommissioned in the early 1990s, compounded by inadequate school resources.
Rail lines and freeways divided the suburb and disconnected the community.
But the fibro housing that once housed base staff is now being snapped up by private investors and replaced by modern homes.
Minister for Victorian Communities, Peter Batchelor, who was on hand last week with Hobsons Bay mayor Leigh Hardinge, said the project ensured that ideas that came out of community planning “don’t just remain ideas on paper, but come to life and bring tangible benefits to local people”.
