ANOTHER community member has spoken out against the proposed Coles Express service station on the corner of McCallum and Beveridge Streets.
Earlier this month, Swan Hill Rural City Council announced a development application had been made to place the petrol station at the empty block, advertising in The Guardian that objections could be made to the application in a two week period ending today.
The block is located across from the Visitors and Community Comfort Centre on the McCallum Street median strip, which has been providing facilities for tourists and community members in-need for around 40 years.
The centre’s chairperson, Beryl Lowe, said all eight of the centre’s volunteers were disappointed they weren’t contacted about the proposed development by the council, which sent notification letters only to direct neighbours of the block.
“What we’ve got is an asset to the town, we’ve got showers, a mother’s room, a meeting room, a kitchen… we feel that we should be considered in decisions like this,” Ms Lowe said.
“We only heard about this on Monday when we read it in the paper, we weren’t given a letter… why weren’t we notified?”
Ms Lowe and fellow volunteers were concerned that being sandwiched in between two service stations would divert people away from the centre.
Ms Lowe said she was submitting a petition with 20 signatures for her objection to the proposal, arguing there was already too much traffic and confusion coming out of the Safeway’s Petrol Station at the other side adjacent to the centre.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Friday’s Guardian (October 23).
