The proposal was put to councillors as a mayoral minutes at Wednesday night's council meeting, with mayor Bobby Bourke saying "I consider it urgent to resolve this matter as soon as possible, given the current debate in the community".

What rot. Plans for a go kart track have been bandied about in Bathurst for the best part of 20 years so another four weeks would hardly make a difference.

More damning, though, is the fact the five councillors who voted to approve the loan - the mayor, deputy mayor Ian North and councillors Warren Aubin, Alex Christian and Graeme Hanger - have forced council into a backflip on its pledge just four months ago not use a cent of ratepayers' money to progress the track.

When the 2020-21 budget was approved in June, after 28 days on public exhibition, it included $4.5 million for the track on the basis that all the money would come from state and federal grants - grants, it must be said, that are not appearing as quickly nor as readily as councillors might have hoped.

So after just four months of (presumably) trying unsuccessfully to secure grants, a majority of councillors has now decided it's OK to commit not only $2.25 million of ratepayers' money to a track that remains despised by many in the community and has threats of legal action hanging over it, but also around $266,000 in forecast interest payments over the next 10 years.

This is no longer a question of whether the go kart track should be built, nor whether it should be built in McPhillamy Park or in another location.

This has now become a question of whether the ratepayers of Bathurst can have faith in this council to be open with them and to act according to their own statements.

Wednesday night's rushed backflip has done this council and this region a great disservice.

What ratepayers were told in June, that their money would not be spent on a go kart track, was summarily dismissed in October (though the decision will return to council after a rescission motion was lodged on Thursday).

Councillors are elected to make decisions, but they're also expected to be open and honest with the people who voted them in. That's not what we got on Wednesday night.