LNP commits $500k for Darling Heights community hub
A community hub at Darling Heights State School is a step closer after a commitment from the LNP.
Toowoomba
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TOOWOOMBA South MP David Janetzki has announced an LNP-elected government after October 31 would spend $500,000 on helping to build a community hub at Darling Heights State School.
Mr Janetzki said the hub would include a commercial kitchen, men’s shed and community garden, which would help bring the southern suburbs community together.
“The Darling Heights State School is perfectly positioned for an accessible and affordable hub to connect our community not just in Darling Heights but across Toowoomba’s southern suburbs,” Mr Janetzki said.
“The Community Hub will help fill a gap and ensure our diverse community has accessible and affordable social infrastructure it can use well into the future.”
Darling Heights Community Hub committee member Ricky Adams has been the driving force behind the project over the last two years.
“With the construction of the Community Hub, we will be able to offer so much more to our community – from hospitality experience, gardening opportunities and mentoring and skills development through the Men’s Shed that will set up here,” Mrs Adams said.
“There are significant needs in our community – including mental health and social isolation challenges – that will be met with the construction of the Community Hub.”
She said the LNP’s announcement was “really exciting” for the group, who have tried for several years to get funding for the project.
“It’s going to make it possible to build it if it comes to fruition,” she said.
Darling Heights State School is one of Queensland’s most diverse primary schools, with over 40 different cultures represented in the student body.
“We run lots of parenting groups, English lessons twice a week, cooking classes … our biggest dilemma is we don’t have the room to run these things to the level we want to,” Mrs Adams said.
Overall, the project is expected to have a price tag of about $900,000 to $1 million.
She said with this initial funding the group would be able to apply for other grants.
Mrs Adams said she hoped Labor and other parties would commit to reciprocating the LNP’s commitment.
“We would love that to be the case,” she said.