The City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) has closed its truck wash facilities three weeks early due to thefts.
The truck wash, located at the council’s former saleyards in North Geelong, was slated for closure in September to make way for the sale of the site for further development, primarily for high density housing including social and affordable housing.
However, CoGG chief executive Ali Wastie said the theft of materials at the site had precipitated the early closure.
“A significant amount of copper piping supplying water to our truck wash was stolen over the weekend, resulting in the facility being unusable,” Ms Wastie said.
“The truck wash, at the former Geelong Saleyards, was due to close on 1 September 2025, however, it will now be closed effective immediately due to the theft. This is the second theft in recent months, suggesting that the site is being targeted.
“The truck wash was already scheduled for permanent closure next month, making it unreasonable to undertake costly repairs to keep the facility operational for such a short time.
“Running at a loss of $228,411 per year, usage of the truck wash has declined by 73 per cent over the past year, and many of the remaining users come from outside Greater Geelong.”
The council closed the saleyards in 2017, rezoning the site in 2020 as a Comprehensive Development Zone 4 as part of the Geelong Saleyards Precinct Plan.
The closure of the truck wash was announced at the council’s May meeting this year, with Councillor Anthony Aitken calling the site “Saga Yards” in reference to the long-running process to sell the saleyards.
“The reality is, where (the truck wash) is at that site location is not suitable; it’s not accessible and that’s why usage has dropped, because it was associated with the saleyards,” Cr Aitken said.
“If there was anywhere in Geelong where we should have medium to high density housing development it should be at that site, because we’re taking industrial and commercial land and turning it into residential.
“There’s a real great opportunity for Geelong to build a unique community at that site location.”
