THE Bathurst Business Chamber has welcomed the idea of more people and more manufacturing coming to the region after the current health crisis is over.
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During a council meeting in April, councillors expressed a view that there could be an influx of people moving to Bathurst from metropolitan areas, after seeing how well regional NSW fared during the coronavirus pandemic.
President of the Bathurst Business Chamber, Catherine Fitzsimons, said the Central West has always been popular among people looking to relocate to a more family-friendly area.
It is a trend the chamber, like councillors, feels is likely to continue post-virus.
"We would fully expect that to continue and, perhaps yes, this pandemic may give some additional impetus to people to seek out that different pace of life we offer in Bathurst and in the Central West," Ms Fitzsimons said.
Councillors also said they wanted to see council encouraging more manufacturing businesses to come to Bathurst.
"It's probably time now that our economic development department gets the whip out and tries to get some manufacturing businesses to town," Cr Warren Aubin said.
It's something that the business chamber would also like to see happen.
"We would very, very much welcome that if council is able to attract large businesses to the area," Ms Fitzsimons said.
"That's always great for the area; it brings more employment and it brings more stimulus for the local economy."
While she could see more private people moving to Bathurst, she didn't think it would be as easy to lure in manufacturing businesses.
She said people looking at the area from a corporate perspective would be asking questions about what kind of manufacturing could be done and what supply chain links would favour which industries.
"I know the economic team at council watches those kinds of things closely and would be pursuing that. I hope they are working on courting specific industries that would match well with what we've got to offer in the Central West and are doing their part to attract them to this region," Ms Fitzsimons said.
"I think an important part of attracting new business to the region is having a vibrant town centre and vibrant local economy for those businesses to hook into, both for their employees, and for them to connect into in terms of other goods and services that the industry would be purchasing."
For this reason, she said it was vital for council to support existing local businesses through the pandemic to ensure they can stay open.
