While the exact day and time of his visit was yet to be confirmed at the time of going to press, Member for Northern Tablelands Richard Torbay who has been liaising with the minister on the issue, told the Examiner yesterday the visit should end months of uncertainty.

“I’m very pleased the minister accepted the invitation to visit the region and make the trip to Glen Innes out of respect for the community,” he said.

“Without wishing to pre-empt his decision, I’m very optimistic about the outcome, given the hard work done by the working party which put such a comprehensive submission together , and the very strong support shown for the facility by the Glen Innes community,” Mr Torbay said.

Mr Macdonald made a commitment to visit the facility on May 25 in Armidale after he opened the Primary Industries Innovation Centre at the University of New England. It had been hoped that he would visit the Glen Innes Ag Station at that time, but due to a scheduling conflict was unable to do so.

Working party chairman Cr Col Price said the minister’s visit was highly anticipated.

“”We’re looking forward to the minister’s visit and are hopeful of maintaining the facility and indeed, re-energising it,” he said.

“I’ve always been confident about the process in fighting for it, but the longer it has gone on the more nervous I was beginning to feel about it.

“The wait has been particularly unsettling for staff at the facility. But even if we save it we have to ensure there is more research investment into it, so we don’t have to face this threat again in, say, five years time,” Cr Price said.

In a State mini-budget last November Mr Macdonald announced that the 102 year old Glen Innes facility, as well as other research centres at Alstonville, Berry, Condobolin, Gosford, Griffith, Jindabyne Hatchery and Temora, would be closed within three years.