“Urgent” repairs will begin at the 162-year-old Osborne House, Geelong council has announced, almost a year after allocating $1 million for maintenance work.
The council on February 25 approved a prioritised list of maintenance and improvement works costing between $900,000 to $1.1 million in the upcoming 2019/20 budget.
But most of that had carried over from $1 million that council allocated in its 2018/19 budget, according to Osborne Park Association president Cheryl Scott.
“They’ve been sitting on that money for a while,” she said.
Since then, the council had not started work at the North Geelong property except propping up a wall on its stable and perhaps some work on its roof and veranda, Ms Scott said.
But despite the delay, she welcomed the council’s recent list, which prioritised the “most urgent and important” repair works for the heritage-listed site.
“Our understanding is the wheels are in motion and the process is starting,” she said.
The “high-priority” works included $400,000 to repair the stable wall and $300,000 to redesign drainage at the property.
“There’s a large crack in the southwest stable wall due to drainage issues – it’s got a large steal framework propping it up,” Ms Scott said.
“The camber level of the car park is wrong because of resealing with asphalt over the decades.”
Other high-priority works include repairs to windows and walls at the property and replacing fire detectors.
The announcement comes after the council last August ordered a redraft of a master plan that the association described as “vague”.
Initially, in July 2018, councillor Eddy Kontelj moved for a consultant to produce plans for Osborne House and its stables.
But the consultant’s master plan lacked specific details for redeveloping or restoring the buildings, according to the council and the association.
The council spent $118,000 on developing the plan including six drop-in sessions, 20 interviews with 40 stakeholders and two online surveys, which received 317 responses.
The council will release its “re-scoped” Osborne House Sustainable Development Plan in July, estimated to cost $130,000.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done but I believe a sustainable development plan, that focuses on Osborne House and its immediate surrounds, puts us on the right track,” Cr Kontelj said.
“Osborne House is beloved by the community, which I’m sure will be pleased to hear maintenance and improvement works will be prioritised,” Windermere ward councillor Anthony Aitken said.
