West Wimmera Shire Council has secured funding to improve active recreation opportunities for people aged less than 25 years across the municipality. 

The council received $200,000 from VicHealth’s Partners in Place program to deliver the Close to Home – Reimagining Rural Recreation in West Wimmera project. 

The project will begin with research, community engagement and early activation trials. The findings will help shape a long-term strategy to embed successful approaches into the council’s future planning and improve opportunities for young people to be active close to home. 

Existing community assets, including halls, ovals, courts and playgrounds, will be used to deliver activities closer to where young people live, recognising that long travel distances and limited transport options can be a prevention to participating in sport and recreation across rural communities. 

Council chief executive David Bezuidenhout said the project would help make recreation more accessible across the shire. 

“This is a genuinely different approach to rural sport and recreation,” he said. 

“Instead of asking young people to travel long distances to a central facility, we want to bring activity to where they already are, supported by local volunteers, coordinated professional staff and the voices of young people themselves.” 

Under the proposal, day-to-day co-ordination would be led by the Wimmera Regional Sports Assembly, working alongside a cross-council Close to Home Working Group and partners including By Five and the Future Regions Research Centre at Federation University. 

The initiative supports communities to address local priorities through partnerships, evidence and practical approaches that improve health and wellbeing.

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