City of Ballarat is looking at selling the land and building of one of its child care facilities, in a section of the CBD expecting an influx of workers.
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A public notice announced council’s intent to sell the Occasional Childcare Centre at 112 Armstrong Street North last week.
The childcare centre sits on the same roundabout as rear of the Civic Hall site, where the new GovHub development will be constructed from January next year.
More than 1000 additional workers will be based at the major development, making the potential sale of nearby land an appealling prospect for childcare centres, hospitality ventures and related industries alike.
The Occasional Childcare Centre is also flanked by Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative and offices for the Department of Education and Training.
City of Ballarat director of people and communities Neville Ivey said the current Occasional Child Care program in Market Street is moving to a purpose-built centre at the redeveloped “one-stop shop” Girrabanya site in Steinfeld Street North.
“The redeveloped centre will be a best practice child care model that provides much more flexible options to families,” he said.
“It will allow the City of Ballarat to offer more flexible child care options, including long day care and occasional care.”
The Armstrong Street North facility currently offers a minimum of two hours care, or up to a full day or week for children.
Despite the proximity to the GovHub build, Regional Development Minister Jaala Pulford ruled out the state government acquiring the land.
“We have lots of big plans for that part of town but that is not among them,” she said.
Mr Ivey cautioned that the current notification of the intent to sell was not the beginning of the sale process, with public submissions needing to be considered before the land hits the market.
“Council will consider any submissions to this current public notification before determining the next course of action,” he said.
The $1.25 million Girrabanya upgrade was funded by the state government’s Children’s Capital Program. The new site will include a new kindergarten room to accommodate 33 children, an additional 22 long day care places, an refurbished foyer, meeting space and kitchen.
Located closer to maternal and child health services, the rebuild is expected to be completed by mid-2019.
The proposal follows council’s decision in December last year to commence statutory processes to sell off 13 public buildings and vacant lots, including the Kohinoor Community Centre and the Centrecare car park on Peel Street North.
