Love that budget

By Melissa Grant
PAKENHAM residents will benefit from a range of projects under the Cardinia Shire Council’s budget for the new financial year.
Tennis enthusiasts have been served an ace, with the council committing $1.06 million to a regional tennis facility in Webster Way.
A number of the 16 courts will have a Plexicushion surface – the same surface used at this year’s Australian Open – meaning the facility would be capable of hosting high-level tournaments.
Pakenham footballers are also winners in the budget with the council allocating $432,000 to build a pavilion at the newly constructed Lakeside Oval in Shearwater Drive.
The pavilion, to be built next door to the new primary school, will cater for clubs and groups using the oval.
Improving car parking near Pakenham’s central business district is also a focus of the budget with a total of $1.585 million put aside to purchase potential car park sites, for the purchase of land in McGregor Road and for the eventual buy-back of the council’s municipal offices in Henty Way.
Pakenham Business Group vice-president Michael Porter welcomed the council’s move to buy-up sites for future car parking.
“Parking is still the number one problem (in and around Main Street),” he said.
Mr Porter said any additional parking within walking distance of the town’s retail heartland would be much welcomed by residents and business owners.
Meanwhile, residents in Ryan Road, Pakenham, are among many who are set to benefit from $1.5 million set aside in the budget for special charge scheme projects.