Tamworth Regional Council's planned performing arts centre business case deferred until site confirmed

But after years of planning, Tamworth Regional Council still needs to decide on the most suitable location for a new Performing Arts and Cultural precinct.

The project was recently scaled down from $128 to $79.8 million to reduce costs, with a new business case needed so council can secure government funding.

It's about getting the project right no matter how long the process is, council's director of growth and prosperity Jacqueline O'Neill said.

"Council owns property around the city and we are looking for a suitable site. It remains a priority for council so we will be looking at that over the coming weeks," she said.

"We want to activate our nighttime economy here, and it's really important that it remains in the heart of the city."

The originally planned location adjoining the Tamworth library and art gallery may not be suitable anymore, council's general manager Paul Bennett said at Tuesday night's meeting.

When asbestos issues were uncovered in Ray Walsh House, staff began working out of other council-owned facilities such as Parry House next to the library, which was upgraded to meet additional needs.

Now, council may want to preserve Parry House for future use and have their sights set on other available council-owned land to build the cultural precinct, Mr Bennett said.

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"We were looking at two other sites in the centre of the CBD, and progress on negotiations to acquire those have not only been slow, but indicate they would be very costly to acquire," he said.

"The parcel of land we are looking at now is a council-owned parcel of land and we believe we will bring that to council in the very near future."

Numerous elements of the original project were scrapped, including plans to relocate the Tamworth Regional Conservatorium of Music into the new facility and a studio space for ABC New England North West.

Mr Bennett said if council can move quickly on identifying a site, "it can move quickly on a concept design".

He said he believes the project, which would boast a 600-seat main stage theatre and second black box 200-seat studio, is achievable, but not without the help of other tiers of government.

He likened the precinct to the Glasshouse in Port Macquarie, which was developed "when Port Macquarie was the size of Tamworth now".

Council has reserved $81,023 to fund a revised business case and detailed design once the site is confirmed.

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