Letters to the editor: Historic mine cottage in Golden Point should be saved

For the past eight years the house has been unoccupied, with no security fencing to protect the house from graffiti and vandalism.

In February the City of Ballarat undertook detailed research on the history of the house, and moved for a heritage overlay to be placed on the property because of its historical significance and link to the Cornish gold mining history of Golden Point.

Sovereign Hill last week celebrated the opening of the Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections in the former Gold Museum, a building from 1978 which Catherine King referred to as an excellent example of brutalist architecture, and she praised Sovereign Hill for its maintenance of the building.

It is ironic that at the same time we have witnessed the 'demolition by neglect' of the little 1890s cottage belonging to Sovereign Hill.

Given the management's interest in building replicas of 19th century cottages within the precincts of Sovereign Hill, and its championing of Rare Trades, I expect to see the board of Sovereign Hill acting quickly to rebuild the fire-damaged house, and give it an adaptive reuse.

Anne Beggs-Sunter, Clarendon

RELATED COVERAGE: Sovereign Hill upset after historic home burnt

The City of Ballarat council is currently seeking input from their citizens on the recently released budget for 2023-24.

This is an opportunity for ratepayers to propose ideas that will benefit the city and its residents in respect of future plans, as well as challenge proposed increasing costs to ratepayers, who are struggling to survive in this high-cost environment.

The City of Ballarat has increased the rates by the maximum state government's gap of 3.5 per cent.

But, why is it necessary?

We probably need to review previous year reports to obtain an understanding of the city's future plans, and the direction that councillors, via the various committed council plans, will lead us.

The 2021-22 annual report shows the financial position council achieved during the year, where the final result was a surplus (profit) of $74.2 million, and an amount invested in term deposits of $148 million, plus $20 million in the bank, for a total major financial reserve of an incredible, eye-watering $168 million.

In comparison, the annual report for 2017-18, where the final result shows the annual surplus (profit) of $33.1 million and the amount invested in term deposits as $83.4 million, with cash in the bank of $5.5 million, a total major financial reserve of 'only' $88.9 million.

So, in only three years, the cash reserves have increased by $79.1 million. A virtual financial sinkhole.

Too bad about the vulnerable battling ratepayers trying to live with increasing costs of living.

The financial report for 2022 also showed that borrowing costs were $1.4 million - why do we have costly financial loans?

The council's rating strategy for 2019, shown in section 5.2, paragraph 7, states "generally, Council seeks to have a balanced budget, i.e. that revenue is equal to expenses. Any surplus or deficit result should be minor in context of the overall budget".

Perhaps council should apply this strategy to the proposed budget and release any results from their applied cost-benefit analysis for each project.

Councillors and management have continually warned council will have to reduce some local programs if they cannot increase rates.

Why?

This council should not be unnecessarily duplicating financial support from other levels of government at ratepayers' expense.

It would seem council decisions are often based on ideology, or political or personal whims, rather than practical or needed reasons.

The council provided a pie chart of expenses with each rates notice, which indicated that maintaining the roads was $4 in every $100 spent - and also listed attractions and events as $4 in every $100 spent.

This seems to be extremely high, and council needs to be transparent, not translucent, and supply the data relating to these costs.

Keith Murdoch, Ballarat

It's been interesting reading articles and letters to the editor over recent months - even years - about efforts to get people to ride bikes more often.

The approach is generally of the 'build the infrastructure and they will come' type. To an extent this is true, but as a lonely, cyclist-for-transport type over decades in Ballarat, I reckon it's much more about attitude; decide that you want to ride a bike and do it.

There are streets everywhere to take you where you want to go - and direct travel using the street network is the way to go. This is not to say there shouldn't be bike trails, but if we wait for enough of them then we'll never be riding.

I ride the four kilometres into central Ballarat from the east about four times a week; not a lot of distance but enough to encounter plenty of car traffic and very few other cyclists.

Side benefits are that I don't have to pay parking fees or worry about parking spaces and I always achieve that Nirvana that motorists crave: being able to 'park' right outside my destination.

My backpack is usually sufficient to carry what I need to buy. I've been knocked off once but otherwise felt pretty safe the rest of the time - with few exceptions, drivers treat my presence as they do any other vehicle. Although, of course, it pays to expect the unexpected.

I feel more anxious when driving due to the habit of drivers to sit on my tail or drive aggressively.

If we want provision for cyclists, as done so well in Europe, then we're going to have to demonstrate it - and change from being the most car-obsessed nation in the world.

Hedley Thomson, Canadian

I completely agree with Stuart Kelly in that a seven-storey building would completely destroy the streetscape of the mall and they would also look incongruous against the two-storey Victorian and art-deco facades of some of the present buildings.

Painting and restoring the present facades would be sufficient in presenting a fresh new face to the mall buildings.

John Simpson, Ballarat