Candidate for Bendigo Megan Purcell visited the showgrounds on Thursday morning, which are home to the Kyneton Football Netball Club, cricket club, little athletics and Kyneton agricultural society.

The showground user groups held a briefing in recent weeks to canvass support for the project, would could total $1.4 million.

Ms Purcell said the facility was in desperate need of an upgrade, which she hoped would further encourage sport in the town.

“This project will upgrade the change rooms at the showgrounds and provide a much needed facility makeover,” she said.

“Currently the women’s change rooms are in the sheep shed and the juniors have to share one giant shower space. Not good enough.

“There is a massive demand for more sporting facilities in our community and this commitment means greater opportunities for locals to participate in sport closer to home.”

The user groups are in the process of creating detailed plans for the upgrade, which could still be several years away.

At the moment, the women’s change rooms remain in the sheep shed, and the junior teams have to share one shower space.

Kyneton Football Netball Club president Rob Waters welcomed the funding.

He said there was still a lot of work to do to turn the project into a reality.

“Most of the details still have to be worked through,” he said.

“We will be looking into how other forms of government will be able to help out, but we’re still not sure yet. There are a lot of grants out there that we might be able to make the most of.”

AFL Central Victoria is currently completing a needs-based assessment for all clubs in the region, to prioritise which facilities are in the most need of upgrades.

Labor Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters said the Kyneton upgrade was a “great” project, but the Liberal Party amount placed too much pressure on the club, council and state government to complete the funding.

“It might sound good, but it won’t deliver the project. It means the local and state government will need to contribute a lot, as well as the football-netball club – that’s a lot of sausage sizzles,” she said.

“There is not a football-netball club in central Victoria that isn’t calling for funding for an upgrade. The needs-based assessment will prioritise these.”

She said Labor would allocate funding dependent on the outcome of an assessment of all clubs.