North wants a $50k commitment to get Project Elevate get off the ground

Project Elevate was established around the beginning of 2023 to bring together some of the city's greatest business minds to unlock Bathurst's tourism potential and encourage visitation to the region.

Councillor Ian North, impressed by the passion and drive the group has shown, has called on Bathurst council to put some of its own money behind the initiative.

He wants seed funding of $50,000 set aside in the 2024-25 budget, which Elevate Bathurst could use to meet its objectives.

"When you get a group like this, and I'm not knocking the [business] chamber, but this group is offering something I've never seen in 20 years," Cr North said.

"Their passion and drive, they're saying, 'We want to help the council of Bathurst', where everyone else says, 'Why doesn't council do this? Why aren't you doing this?'. You can't do everything."

A similar group, called Orange360, promotes tourism in that region and receives funding from Orange City, Blayney Shire and Cabonne Shire councils to do so.

Cr North said Project Elevate still needs to prove itself, but it's possible that a similar arrangement could be established in the future to promote Bathurst as a destination.

The seed funding, which the group could use for things like marketing, would be the start of seeing what is possible if the group has more resources at its disposal.

"If they do half as good as what Hamish [Keith] says to me they're about, with the quality of people in that group, I have no doubt they're going to be a roaring success and council's going to really see great value for money," Cr North said.

"And I want us to show support in getting things like this off the ground."

Project Elevate wants to draw attention to all the different aspects of Bathurst and target medium to high-end audiences to visit the region.