Kable Avenue car park sale: Tamworth Regional Council receives renewed developer interest heating up push for multi-storey car park

Tamworth Regional Council confirmed to the Leader it is in negotiations with at least two developers to sell off the Kable Avenue car park next to Ray Walsh House.

Director of liveable communities Gina Vereker, said council received two expressions of interest over a period of a month, for the 45-space car park closest to Fitzroy Plaza.

"There have been some further discussions but council is yet to make a formal decision," she said.

"In terms of parking, if the car park next door was to be removed it will be a requirement of council to replace that parking elsewhere, because it was a condition of the development consent for Ray Walsh House.

"Council, as any developer, would have to find an alternative location for parking and that is certainly something that will be taken into account."

The interest has fueled calls from the Tamworth Ratepayers' Association to preserve the public asset for future expansion of Ray Walsh House.

The group's president David McKinnon said council is paying millions of dollars to refurbish Ray Walsh House with the intention of moving back into it, yet they're going to sell off valuable land next door.

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"It's highly inappropriate and shortsighted to be selling off a public space when it's in such a critical spot for the public," he said.

"It's a public asset, it assists Ray Walsh House directly, they are short on parking and they cannot keep taking green space when they've got high rise going up beside green space.

"At the bottom of White Street they've taken more green space from Bicentennial Park for parking, and then they're selling off what would be good as a multi-storey car park."

In council's ten-year CBD parking strategy, it identified parking will need to increase by about 40 car spaces each year until 2030 to cater for growth as the region strives towards a population of 100,000.

Ms Vereker said a multi-storey car park, partly funded by CBD businesses, is something council is "looking at over the next three to five years".

Mr McKinnon said with the potential for a large multi-storey apartment complex on Dowe Street, council needs to prioritise building a multi-storey car park within the CBD now.

Any decision on the Kable Avenue car park sale will have to be signed off by councillors at a meeting.

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