Council Minutes - Town of Cambridge

COUNCIL MINUTES
TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2012
(iv)
(v)
in regards to item (iii) and subject to State Government support, a joint submission with
the City of Vincent for grant funding under the Australian Government's Liveable Cities
Program be made by 15 December 2011;
in relation to items (i), (iii) and (iv), a further report to Council be provided when advice
is received on the grant application.
The decision to pursue Options 2A and 2B recognised that at the very least a new bridge
would be required in the event the bus transfer station proceeded and that there should also
be examination into future upgrading for a transit link.
The City of Vincent Council, at its meeting also held on 22 November 2011, indicated its inprinciple
support for Options 2A and 2B in order to undertake detailed design work for these
options, pending the support of other stakeholders.
An estimate of $220,000 was provided to prepare a detailed concept plan for the enhanced
link covering architecture and urban design, engineering (structural, civic) design, staging,
project management and cost estimation.
Following the resolutions made by the Town and City of Vincent Councils, a request for
funding and support was sought from the Department of Transport. The Department offered
$20,000 in funding for the 2012/13 financial year towards the design and feasibility study as
outlined in correspondence to the City of Vincent dated 7 December 2011. The Department
of Transport identified two key areas for further investigation before the detailed design
concept could be progressed including whether a transit link would ever be considered
necessary and cyclist access upon the removal of the spiral ramps.
A joint submission was then made by the Town and City of Vincent to seek a federal grant
under the Liveable Cities Program in December 2011. The Liveable Cities Program was set
up to provide grants to assist in planning and design projects in capital cities that are
experiencing population growth pressures and transport affordability cost pressures. The
application was made for $110,000 towards funding the design and feasibility study, under
the program's planning and design stream. Under this cost breakdown, the Town and City of
Vincent would have contributed $45,000 each.
In advice received on 13 April 2012, the application under the Liveable Cities Program was
unsuccessful. According to the Department of Infrastructure and Transport, while the
submission was considered a strong contender for funding, competition for funds was strong
from around the country.
Given the funding shortfall, the project scope was revised to exclude the transit bridge option
(Option 2B) as this would be a longer term prospect while there is a more pressing need for
a pedestrian connection. The estimated cost of the scope of work was revised to $140,000.
The Department of Transport was approached again to obtain additional funding under a
proposal which would have seen their contribution increased to $40,000 and the Town and
City of Vincent each contributing $50,000. As the Department had finalised their budgets at
that time it was not in the position to commit any additional funding.
The Town has committed $60,000 towards the project in the 2012/13 financial year budget.
The Town approached the City of Vincent to see whether their contribution could also be
increased to $60,000, which in addition to the Department of Transport's existing
contribution of $20,000 would have generated the $140,000 required to progress the study.
However, Vincent indicated that there was no funding available at this stage and that the
City would re-examine possible funding options as part of the mid-year budget review.
H:\CEO\GOV\COUNCIL MINUTES\12 MINUTES\AUGUST 2012\B DV.DOCX 75