City of Greater Bendigo's Draft Early Years Infrastructure Strategy as it awaits reforms from state government

The City of Greater Bendigo's Draft Early Years Infrastructure Strategy called for community feedback when it was released to the public at the start of the year.

Since then the project has been paused as council waits for the outcome of the state government's early year reforms.

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A council spokesperson said the strategy was not likely to progress further until 2023.

"The project is paused for the time being and with the election in November, it's unlikely we will receive further direction until next year," they said.

The draft strategy was created to ensure Greater Bendigo has sufficient kindergarten services to meet the current and future needs of the community over the next 10 years.

Under the proposed strategy, Bendigo Preschool, Eaglehawk Kindergarten and White Hills Kindergarten would close by 2027 and their student places redistributed to help meet demand in other areas of Bendigo.

Expansions were also slated for Spring Gully Kindergarten by 2025 and Epsom Kindergarten by 2026 while a new Marong Kindergarten and Community Hub would be built by 2024.

Bendigo's growing population combined with the introduction of funded three and four-year old kindergarten means ageing kindergarten infrastructure owned or managed by council is under pressure.

"Most of the buildings the City owns or manages for early years services are more than 35 years old and some are no longer suitable to run a contemporary service," the council said in a statement in July.

"Recommendations in the draft strategy included a new build, expansion of existing buildings and some closures of kindergarten buildings that are no longer fit-for-contemporary purpose.

"These recommendations were not about providing less services, they were about redistributing services to areas that need them most."

Premier Daniel Andrews announced early years reforms earlier in the year including free kindergarten, the introduction of a 30-hour, pre-prep year for four-year-olds.

"Details of the roll-out plan have not been fully revealed however the City feels confident it will have an impact on the supply vs demand analysis included in the draft strategy," council said in July.

"Further development of the Early Years Infrastructure Strategy will be put on hold until more information is made available about the State Government reforms.

"We appreciate all feedback received so far and will continue to consult with providers and the community as updates are made."

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