HORSHAM Rural City Council is planning to move its vehicle depot away from the Horsham city centre, a council officer has confirmed.
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Council's infrastructure director John Martin confirmed the council was undertaking preliminary planning to relocate the facility from Selkirk Drive, Horsham.
At the council's meeting on September 23, Mr Martin discussed why the council had been testing soil at the 2.2 hectare site.
"We are gradually looking at the potential for a new depot location," he said.
"In the planning scheme there is a requirement that when we exit the site and before it can be used for another purpose we have to go through (a soil testing) process. Hopefully it's a valuable piece of land."
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Mr Martin later told the Mail-Times the actual relocation of the depot was "some years away".
He said relocating the depot was important because council vehicles had no choice but to drive through Horsham's CBD from its current location.
"The vehicle fleet includes a range of trucks, graders and other equipment," he said.
"This traffic is not desirable in the retail area. Furthermore, as we have seen with the relocation of the livestock exchange which used to be south of Hamilton Street, the inner-urban area is much better suited to residential or related development.
"The depot area is within the planning area for the council's City to River vision project."
The council's City to River draft masterplan is a 20 year vision for Horsham and the Wimmera River precinct.
Concept drawings included in the draft plan show residential development in an area where the operations depot is.
Mr Martin said the council was looking at a range of sites to relocate to, including Horsham's Enterprise Estate industrial area on Ballinger Street or the Burnt Creek industrial area.
He said the council was yet to consult with user groups surrounding the vehicle depot, which includes Horsham Apex Club and Horsham Rotary clubs.
In 2012 engineering consultant Malcolm Styles advised the council it would cost the organisation $5 million to move the depot.
Leaking tanks present opportunity
AT the council's meeting, councillors agreed to award the contract to supply fuel to the municipality's vehicle fleet to Mogas Regional, which is based on Golf Course Road.
In a report to the council, senior engineer Greg Gunn said pressure testing in January revealed two of the three 11,000 litre underground fuel tanks at the depot were leaking and could longer be used.
Mr Gunn said the council had identified off-site fuel supply as the cheapest way of doing things going forward.
"It is estimated that the new contract arrangement will result in savings of $35,000 a year and reduced costs in managing the bulk fuel supplies," his report said.
The report also said the leaking had caused soil around the fuel tank area to be contaminated.
Councillor David Grimble asked Mr Martin if the tanks had been drained and whether they presented an ongoing contamination risk.
Mr Martin said he could not recall how much fuel was in the tanks at the time the leaks were identified, but they were now fully emptied.
He said his department was finalising a report on the contamination that would eventually come before councillors.
"It's a significant issue we need to ensure we get right, and we will," he said.
Cr Grimble said providing fuel off-site was a "good outcome".
"The change in our fuel operations creates the opportunity to manage our fuel sourcing in a different way," he said.
"Now we have the opportunity to have 24-hour refueling through what will be a quite simplistic process," he said.
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