A COMMUNITY-DRIVEN dream to revitalise Timboon's CBD is a step closer to reality thanks to a $50,000 donation.
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Origin Energy has provided the funding to help get the long-awaited project off the ground.
The Timboon Town Centre Improvements project includes the construction of a new town plaza, more open space, upgraded street furniture, new plantings and improved pedestrian crossings.
The Corangamite Shire will contribute $150,000 to the project and a further $50,000 to the design. Mayor Chris O’Connor said Origin’s contribution would help the shire attract government funding.
“Origin Energy does an amazing job in partnering with our local communities to deliver projects of enduring social and economic benefit,” he said.
Timboon Action president Charlene Payne welcomed the funding.
“It was a big priority to get the streetscape done. It’s a fantastic thing and a great partnership with Origin,” she said.
Ms Payne said the upgrades would refresh the streetscape and also make the most of Timboon’s growing tourism trade and attract new businesses and residents to the town.
Improving a pedestrian crossing linking the railway distillery and rail trail precinct to the CBD was vital to this, she said.
“We get a lot of recreational riders using the rail trail and we’d like to attract more of them into the centre of town,” Ms Payne said.
“Once the trail continues to Port Campbell, Timboon will become the centre of the rail trail and the hub that people can ride either way and stop in the middle if you want to have coffee and cake.”
Origin Energy community relations manager Linda French said the company, which operates the nearby Otway Gas Project, was keen to give back to the community.
“This is our community too. Our people live and work here, it’s important for them to feel that they’re connected to their communities,” she said.
“We try to back initiatives that are really going to benefit lots of different people in the community.”
Corangamite Shire community development officer Garry Moorfield said six months of community consultation had gone into the Timboon upgrades.
The Timboon CBD upgrade project’s budget will be tailored to available funding and could cost up to $750,000.
