Mr Mulder, the member for Polwarth, visited Terang yesterday and said the town’s renewed main street was one that other towns across Australia would “give their back teeth for”. 

“Between the renewed main street and the beautiful vista down over the dry lake bed, Terang has an outlook that will be the envy of any town in Australia,” he said. 

Mr Mulder inspected the completed stage two works which included paving work around the town’s war memorial and a new grassed central median strip at the town’s eastern entrance. 

The state government contributed $367,000 from the regional growth fund to the stage two works with a $188,000 contribution from the Corangamite Shire. 

The state also contributed $300,000 to stage one works which included footpath pavement improvements, new street furniture, tree planting and a new concrete path up the central avenue of English oak trees. 

“The streetscape works are a magnificent transformation of the central area of Terang which had been looking tired for a while,” he said. 

“When you undertake work like this there is always going to be controversy, but you negotiate through it and the end result is fantastic.” 

Original streetscape plans included removing one row of parking along High Street and converting the side from parallel parking to 45-degree angle parking. 

That plan drew criticism from some residents and was eventually abandoned. 

Work on the streetscape project is 95 per cent complete, with an impressive oak leaf-inspired street art and lighting for the war memorial to be installed in the coming weeks. 

Corangamite Shire mayor Chris O’Connor said the completion of stage two didn’t end the project, but there would be a small break before stage three works started. 

“We’ll give a few other towns in the shire a spruce up before we come back and finish off Terang with stage three,” he said.