Infrastructure director Kate Lemon said the works on Stage 2 are expected to commence in October 2023 and be completed in March 2024, prior to the Easter Heritage Festival.
“The works will be split into six stages, to minimise impact on Rushworth property owners and residents,” she said.
“Temporary access paths will be installed during each stage to ensure the relevant sections of High Street, affected shopfronts and residential properties are still accessible.”
Waranga Ward councillor Adrian Weston said that he was pleased to see movement towards the next step after a delayed first stage.
“It’ll be fantastic to see the second stage finished and to have both sides of the street done. After the first stage, it was decided to just pause the project and actually split into two stages to ensure that some of the unforeseen issues that happened with Stage 1 didn’t come to the floor in Stage 2,” Cr Weston said.
“So that sort of delayed and added cost to Stage 1. And we’ve spent 12 months just ground trooping where all the assets are prior to commencing Stage 2. It’ll be done between now and next autumn and it’ll be great to see the project in its entirety finished.”
Cr Weston said the project was an important one for the people of Rushworth, who appreciated the historic nature of their town.
“I think the Rushworth community is looking forward to having it done. Obviously the community’s really mindful of the significance of the Rushworth streetscape. It’s only one of two towns in Victoria that has a national trust heritage listing,” he said.
“The consultation and the feedback from the community was that we want to ensure the integrity of our streetscape. So given that feedback, that’s what the council has tried to do. Use the heritage approach in the use of the materials and the design of the project.”
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