Moree Plains Shire Council has resolved to consider a proposal to redevelop the old Cascades building.
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At Thursday’s council meeting, councillors voted in favour of considering the redevelopment of the existing cinema/theatre at the Cascades site in Gosport Street, in conjunction with the requirements for the upgrading of Moree Civic Precinct.
They have also resolved to continue to investigate all funding options, as currently they have $2 million in loan funds set aside for the Moree Civic Precinct redevelopment (upgrades to Moree Memorial Hall), which is subject to successful grant funding of $2 million.
Councillor John Tramby moved the motion for council to consider the submission made by Cascades owner Bev Mansfield, which included signatures of nearly 2,000 residents in favour of redeveloping the old theatre into a twin cinema and entertainment complex.
“We’ve had a request from nearly 2,000 rate-payers, so could it be possible for us to consider the request?” Cr Tramby asked.
“It is our obligation as councillors – we’ve got so many signatures requsting us to consider it, so I think it’s good manners.”
Cr Tramby said he believed a committee of three to four councillors should be formed to look into an entertainment precinct for Moree, including whether Cascades Theatre would be viable.
Mayor Katrina Humphries said she is happy to consider the proposal but reinforced that the memorial hall needs considerable work done.
“That $2 million we’ve got tagged as loan funding for the civic precinct – if we were to put that into Cascades we’ve got nothing to put into the memorial hall,” she said.
“If this is what you want, the community has got to form one committee. Bring all these good ideas together and work in conjunction with the civic precinct working group. That’s the only way it will work.”
Cr Greg Smith was opposed to the proposal, saying not enough funding is going into upgrading rural roads.
“The road network has been subsidising the town for so long,” he said.
“For us to borrow and finance another $2 million and take on another asset, sorry that’s not on.”
During the discussion, Ms Mansfield explained to councillors that the submission is about combining both Cascades and Moree Memorial Hall to form an entertainment precinct.
“With the successful application for a grant there’d be $4 million to spend,” she said.
“$2.3 million would be the redevelopment cost as per the plan for the Cascades site and the balance would be $1.6 million to spend on the memorial hall.”
Cr Stephen Ritchie weighed in on the debate in favour of the submission, saying council should invest money into a project like this that will attract people to Moree, rather than spend money on a fenced off-leash area for dogs.
“There’s 2,000 rate-payers who have said they want this and I think we need to look after them first,” he said.
“We should be able to find money somewhere.”
Cr Mike Montgomery said that the whole issue needs to be looked at from all angles, and made the point that if council does take on the Cascades building as an asset, it will need to be maintained, so they would have to come up with the ongoing cost of maintaining it.
Finally, Cr Tramby concluded the debate by saying this is what Moree needs.
“We need to make this community liveable and this is part of making Moree liveable,” he said.
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