Delays of several months have hit a 120 bed aged care facility to be built in Echuca.

Hopes that the facility would be running by the end of this year have been dashed. Innovative Care (recently sold to Bupa) is waiting for the final sign off from Campaspe Shire Council according to chief executive Graeme Croft (pictured). He said the council had been ‘very slow’ in approving planning documents.

Bill Cathcart, Campaspe Shire’s planning and building manager, said that “as with all developments of this scale and importance, the conditions set down ensure the developer does everything ‘by the book’ with all relevant infrastructure service authorities for the site.”

The site for the aged care facility had been chosen because of the area’s rapidly aging and under-supplied population, and because it was near the town’s entrance. The facility will offer a mix of low and high-care places.

The council are excited by the opportunities the project would bring to the region.