Pedal boat proposal

Horsham councillor Mark Radford is seeking support for a Pick My Project proposal to fund pedal boats for the Wimmera River.

Cr Radford said he, along with Horsham Rural City Council staff, had put forward a funding proposal for 10 pedal boats for the municipality.

“Activating our river in Horsham has been talked about for a long time,” he said.

“With our new pedestrian bridge, the leasing of the caravan park, planning for a café and other recent improvements, we are seeing our river, in Horsham, being appreciated and used more and more.

“One suggestion has been to have some pedal boats for friends and families to use and enjoy, during the warmer months of the year.”

Cr Radford said the $60,000 project would include 10 Sundolphin pedal boats, life jackets, a purpose-built trailer to transport the boats, signs, stickers and initial administration costs.

“It is a funding criteria that the pedal boats can’t be used to ‘make a profit’ for a business or individual,” he said.

“They can, however, be hired out to cover their own costs. The council would own the boats, trailer and life jackets and there will be an opportunity for service clubs to be involved in the supervision during the hire-out period.”

Cr Radford encouraged the community to get behind the State Government’s Pick My Project concept.

“Project ideas are put by community members and the community ‘votes’ for their favourite project to be funded,” he said.

“If there is one thing that has long-lasting benefits in our community, it is families and friends spending time and enjoying activities ‘together’ – activities that are attractive for young people are particularly valuable for providing life-long memories of weekends or times away on holidays.”

People can visit pickmyproject. vic.gov.au for more information about projects in their region or to vote by September 13.

• Wimmera groups seeking support for their Pick My Project concept can email information about their project to sarahs@team. aceradio.com.au.