Will Stuart Ayres be the knight in shining armour who saves the dream of building a state of the art sport centre of excellence in Macarthur – and helps bring the Wests Tigers to the region?
Campbelltown Council certainly hopes so after voting last night to proceed with the original plan for the centre on land at the Western Sydney University’s local campus.
But it will need to find another $10 million because of a cost blowout, and that’s where the state sports minister comes in.
Former mayor, Cr Paul Lake, a strong supporter of the sport centre of excellence, got the rest of the council to agree to his plan for the general manager, Lindy Deitz, to meet with Mr Ayres as soon as possible to discuss State Government funding for the proposal.
“We saw Mr Ayres last year and he told us that we should call him in the event we needed some more funds for this sport centre of excellence,’’ Cr Lake said.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“He told us that the centre was the sort of thing they may be prepared to contribute to.’’[/social_quote]
The cost of the centre has skyrocketed since first mooted two years ago and estimated to cost $17 million.
After the federal government confirmed its contribution of a little over $7 million, council ordered a new cost estimate, which came back showing that $26 million will now be needed to deliver the project.
This new estimate is based on construction starting around the middle of 2017.
And that’s the reason Cr Lake asked that the meeting with Mr Ayres be held asap.
A report tabled at council last night showed that the full project cost would be $26.2 million.
Campbelltown Council’s share would be $5 million.
Other contributors include UrbanGrowth NSW, as well as “indicative’’ financial involvement from the Wests Tigers and the AFL.
But now it’s all up to the sports minister: if Mr Ayres is helpful it would mean building the state of the art sport and health centre of excellence that was originally intended.
With the State Government spending more than $1 billion on stadiums such as a new Parramatta Stadium, council hopes there will be a few crumbs left over for the sport centre of excellence.
A community health centre, indoor sport facility, education rooms and community office space as well as commercial spaces would be available under the $26 million plan approved by council last night.
It could potentially also be the hook that finally encourages the Wests Tigers to relocate here.
If Stuart Ayres comes to the party, could the Macarthur Tigers be on the way?
