A COUNCIL bid to restore a historic shed with links to Port Fairy's bygone railway has been unsuccessful for a second time.
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Moyne Shire Council had hoped to receive $200,000 from Heritage Victoria for the Railway Place Goods Shed last year after the council committed $60,000 to "reactivate" the vacant site to display stories of the region's industries.
But council community and corporate services director Kevin Leddin said Heritage Victoria had offered only $70,000 for the project and the council had since withdrawn its application.
It follows another unsuccessful application in 2018 for similar conservation works on the Goods Shed, which was built in the 1890s but has sat idle for decades.
"We really need to (now) do some technical assessments to assist in identifying parts that would get funded," Mr Leddin said.
Most councillors voted at an ordinary meeting this week to re-purpose the council's $60,000 for a fully costed design plan and further structural assessments.
"Let's get on with it and do something with it," Cr Jordan Lockett said of re-purposing the money.
Listed on the Victorian Heritage Register about a decade ago, the building with its two cantilevered verandas today remains fenced off and never put to use in councillors' memories.
Cr Daniel Meade also voted to re-purpose the money, but said he was "loathed" to spend it on a report due to the coronavirus forcing constraints on the council's budget.
"In the current financial climate we will try and use our dollars that we have to spend ... on projects that will create local stimulus or employment," Cr Meade said.
"However, that seems to be the only option as it seems we have somewhat been backed into a corner by Heritage Victoria."
Cr Jim Doukas voted against re-purposing the money and expressed frustration with Heritage Victoria's requests.
"It seems to be they call the tune and we seem to be paying the bill," he said.
"Let it sit there, or better still, pull the fence down and let the locals do what they want with it."
The railway shed was built when the rail from Melbourne was extended from Terang via Warrnmabool to Koroit and then Port Fairy in 1890.
A now demolished railway station was built near it years later in 1909, while the shed was used primarily for goods coming in and going out of the town.
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