Port Fairy SES needs funding for new home

The unit needs around $2 million to build new headquarters.

While the site for the new premises has already been won - the old ambulance station on the Princes Highway - the battle for funding drags on.

Port Fairy SES Unit controller Stephen McDowell said the quest for state government funding for a new home had been ongoing for the past eight years.

Mr McDowell is hopeful the end is in sight.

"There was no money in the November budget for the building so we are pinning our hopes on an allocation in the May budget," he said.

"The building where we are now in the Port Fairy CBD is rapidly coming to the end of its life.

"We have 18 months left on our lease with Moyne Shire Council but the building may be unsafe for us to keep using by then, so there is some real urgency about getting our new home built."

The old ambulance site on the Princes Highway will be shared by the SES and the Port Fairy CFA.

The building currently on the site will be demolished, with a new CFA station to be built on the front of the block and the SES headquarters at the rear.

Mr McDowell said the CFA had secured funding and its building works would begin imminently.

"While they are different, it would make sense to have both the CFA and SES construction projects happening concurrently," Mr McDowell said.

The Port Fairy unit has received funding from its SES governing body, which was used for developing a plan and gaining the relevant local and state government approvals.

Mr McDowell said Port Fairy was at the top of the list for building funding if money became available from the state SES headquarters.

"That is certainly a positive and another step towards hopefully gaining state government funding," he said.

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