Tamworth Regional Council will vote on the future of Ray Walsh House at Tuesday’s ordinary council meeting, with General Manager Paul Bennett recommending the building and its adjacent western car park be sold.
The recommendation, published in the business paper today, also directs an Expression of Interest process to appoint an agent and method for the sale. The vote on Tuesday, 30 June will be the latest step in a saga that began in 2022, when staff were evacuated from the building due to failing air conditioning systems and the presence of asbestos containing materials.
Since then, Council has received numerous reports on the building’s future. On Tuesday, 14 May, Council held a facilitated Town Hall meeting with the community to present information on the current status of Ray Walsh House and hear opinions, suggestions, concerns and questions from those present. Council agreed to accept further written submissions until Thursday, 29 May, following which it would make a determination.
The Tamworth Regional Residents and Ratepayers Association (TRRRA) today called on councillors to pause and ensure Council’s own previously agreed process has been fully completed before voting to proceed.
TRRRA said it had identified three key concerns with how the matter had been handled.
First, the Association said Council had previously resolved to consider all options, including remediation, repurposing and redevelopment, along with an up-to-date valuation of the building in its current state, an estimated value if rehabilitated, and an estimate of the cost of necessary works, but that the current report did not clearly present a balanced comparison of these options.
Second, TRRRA said community consultation was intended to inform Council’s direction, but had instead been proposed after significant work had already been undertaken.
Third, it said councillors were now being asked to progress the next stage without clear evidence that previous resolutions had been fully implemented.
“Councillors made a commitment to follow a transparent process and consider all options,” a TRRRA spokesperson said.
“The question now is whether that process has been completed before the next step is taken.”
The Association was careful to say it was not advocating for any particular outcome on the building’s future.
“Once Council moves forward from this point, it becomes much harder to revisit earlier decisions. It is critical that the process is right before the next step is taken.”
TRRRA urged councillors to confirm that all options had been properly assessed, that relevant information was available, and that meaningful community consultation had been undertaken before progressing.
Ray Walsh House, on Peel Street in the Tamworth CBD, has been a focal point of community debate since its closure. The building had long served as a central hub of Tamworth Regional Council’s administration operations before the discovery of asbestos and the air conditioning failure rendered it unusable.
Further information on the Ray Walsh House matter is available on a dedicated webpage https://www.tamworth.nsw.gov.au/about/the-council/ray-walsh-house-remediation.
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