The council has blocked a plan to look for outsiders who might want to buy or lease the old shire council offices on Bourke Street.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
At a meeting on Thursday night, they split 4 to 3 to veto the proposal which could have meant getting rid of it once the current occupants, the RFS, leave, probably before the end of the year.
The proposal was to “seek expressions of interest for the outright purchase or lease of land and buildings known as 181 Bourke Street Glen Innes”. If it had gone through, council officials would have seen if companies or people wanted to take it off the council’s hands.
The building is currently occupied by the RFS who use it as a control centre for the region, but they’re moving into new, state-of-the-art premises on Lambeth Street.
That move isn’t far away but the old headquarters might be needed as a back-up for perhaps six months.
After that, what becomes of the shire council building is unknown, including by councillors and council officers.
Deputy mayor, Carol Sparks and her fellow councillor Dianne Newman want it turned into a “youth hub”, and they now have allies in Crs Adam Parsons and Glenn Frendon who often make up a majority against the minority of Crs Steve Toms (mayor), Colin Price and Jeff Smith.
At Thursday’s meeting, a representative of the Police-Citizens Youth Clubs organisation told councillors that they would gladly set up a branch in Glen Innes.
They do three main things in Armidale at the moment, and people from Glen Innes travel there to participate. The activities are for “troubled youth” (and include boxing); retraining for traffic offenders; and courses for “L-Platers”.
Sam Davis of the Armidale PCYC said they would need premises and could move in quickly, but it’s not clear that the old shire council offices would be ideal. though, he said they could work with most buildings offered.
Cr Sparks may come back with a proposal that the shire council offices simply be transformed into a centre for young people or there may be a more nuanced proposal involving another more suitable building, say, for boxing and other sports.
All that is known is that the council can’t sell or lease a beautiful building which was designed for a particular purpose in another era.
See also (on the work of the PCYC):
