THE recently announced Central Tablelands Collection Facility will be built on a greenfield site in Leena Street.
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Bathurst Regional Council and the NSW Government each contributed $2.3 million to create the facility, which will not only house collections from Bathurst and the wider Central West, but also provide archiving and education facilities.
On Wednesday night, council resolved to undertake the construction of the facility and set aside the remaining $66,990 required for the project in the 2019-20 budget.
Councillor Monica Morse said that council and a number of other groups had been trying for years to establish something akin to a shed that could provide adequate storage for cultural items.
However, it was the "perseverance, strategic thinking and publications of lobbying" of director of Cultural and Community Services, Alan Cattermole, that she credited with making a much bigger facility a reality.
"It's only because of his strategic thinking that took what we thought was a shed into this incredible facility that is now going to be in Leena Street," she said.
Although he didn't dispute the need for the facility, Cr Alex Christian questioned whether Bathurst could be included in the name.
General manager David Sherley advised councillors not to change the name as the state funding came from the NSW Regional Cultural Fund with the intent that it would be a regional facility.
He said the benefit to Bathurst was that it could house some of its own collections there and lead to new partnerships.
Mr Cattermole said at the meeting that the collections facility was anticipated to take approximately two years to construct.