Established in 1981 as the
proudly serving Sunbury and Macedon Ranges
9 JUNE, 2026
Cuppa for a cause Baked goods and tea will be aplenty as St Andrew’s Uniting Church gears up to host its 16th Biggest Morning Tea. Organiser Carole Simpson is once again getting the tea cups ready alongside organisers Helen Hall and Robin Simpson, with the annual event one that is not to be missed in Sunbury. Ms Simpson has hosted the annual morning tea at the Sunbury church since 2010, and so far said she has raised more than $8000 for the Cancer Council. She said the cause is an important one for the community to get behind. All money raised on the day will go towards the research and prevention of cancer, as well as for the vital support needed to make each stage of the cancer journey easier. The Biggest Morning Tea will be held at St Andrew’s Uniting Church, corner of Brook and Barkly streets, Sunbury, on Sunday 14 June, from 10.30am, after the 9.30am morning service. Everyone is welcome to attend, with plenty of baked goods, tea and coffee available for everyone. Organiser Carole Simpson, Rev Fa’amata’u Leota and church council chair Dianne Moon. (Damjan Janevski) 550461_01
Neighbouring threat Sunbury councillors have sounded the alarm on a proposed Clarkefield development and the burden it may place on the already straining Sunbury infrastructure. Hume councillors Jarrod Bell and Kate Hamley have individually made their own submissions to the state government for the proposed new district town at Clarkefield. The neighbouring hamlet, which sits only five minutes outside Hume’s border with the Macedon Ranges, could potentially result in more than 2300 new homes and 6000 residents if it is approved. Cr Bell said he was concerned by how Hume already had multiple precinct structure plans in the works in Sunbury’s
north and south, with major development already occurring in Sunbury’s patch of Lancefield Road and nearby Sunbury Road. “To then throw in an additional 6000 (residents) onto what will already be a really rapidly growing area, I thought was an overdevelopment of the area and really out of tune with what the southern Macedon Ranges is,” he said. Cr Bell said he worries Sunbury would bear the burden of service demand, including its libraries, kindergarten, school, and health services. “These 6000 residents will not pay a single cent of rates to Hume council to deliver services that they will use, because they live in the Macedon Ranges council,” he said.
“I think the documents I saw didn’t even acknowledge effectively a residual burden or a residual share of service demand into communities like Sunbury.” Cr Hamley said this proposal is not something Hume has considered. “What’s been put forward at the density they’ve suggested, is really like an entire new suburb,” she said. “It’s not something we’ve considered in all of our growth planning for Sunbury’s north, and this will continue to put a lot of pressure on us, as far as community services and infrastructure that we haven’t planned for.” Both councillors raised concerns about the traffic impacts on Lancefield Road and Sunbury Road, as well as on the public transport system that Cr Hamley said is
already at capacity. “As much as their design of the development at Clarkefield has tried to say, ‘we have all this public transport’ the reality is that everyone there is going to be heavily car dependent, especially because there’s no schools, there’s no supermarket, there’s no petrol station,” she said. Cr Hamley and Cr Bell said this proposal only renews their calls for the full duplication of Sunbury Road as well as the Bulla Bypass. The proposed development by APD Projects is currently being considered by the planning minister under the state government’s Development Facilitation Program, with the proposed township poised to deliver up to 2500 homes over the next 15 years if approved.
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By Georgia Tacey