A roadmap to revitalise Broadmeadows will developed after Hume council received a $3.3 million grant from the federal government.
The funding, provided through the government’s urban precincts and partnership program, will enable council to work with the Broadmeadows Suburban Revitalisation Board, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, state agencies, private developers and local non-profit organisations to develop a masterplan for the suburb’s CBD.
Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister Catherine King said the roadmap would help create better connections between Broadmeadows’ public transport infrastructure, council facilities, libraries, community spaces, commercial spaces and parks.
“This funding for a masterplan development is the first important step in making Broadmeadows more connected. It’s the perfect example of partner organisations working together for community betterment,“ she said.
“The $3.3 million is really about providing [council] the opportunity to put that roadmap together so that … public spaces work for the people who live here.“
Hume mayor Jarrod Bell said council was “thrilled“ with the funding announcement.
“What we know is when levels of government work together, when we then partner with fantastic community and education and employment organisations like Brite, like Kangan, like Banksia Gardens, good outcomes happen, and we are absolutely committed to taking this opportunity that you’re affording our city to then partner with all those organisations and the federal government to bring a new chapter of revitalisation of employment, of education, of making Broadmeadows what it has always meant to be the capital of Melbourne’s north,“ he said.
“And this is a really key first step in that roadmap that will get us to where we need to be so that Hume and Broadmeadows can meet that potential that we’ve always spoken about.“
Broadmeadows’ local Basem Abdo – who is Labor’s candidate for the Calwell electorate with Maria Vamavkinou set to stand down at this year’s federal election – said the funding commitment was “well overdue“.
He said that as someone who has gone through the Broadmeadows area and station probably every day of his life, he was excited about the what the funding would mean for the area.
“For me, it’s exciting to see the investment in housing, the investment in infrastructure, the investment in community services, and economic and social frameworks that this investment brings is to revitalise Broadmeadows, to make Broadmeadows into a central business district, and to put our area on the map.“
