In the coming weeks council will put the 2017-2021 Delivery Plan on public exhibition, along with the long-term financial plan. This four-year plan sets out the key projects and commitments that the councillors wish to achieve in our term.
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One of the main priorities is to see the completion of the cinema project in the short term.
The community survey conducted in late 2015 clearly demonstrated a high level of support for the facility, and people recognise the cinema is not just about bringing movies to town, but is also a way of providing an economic and social boost to the Macleay.
Shopper survey results show that 43 per cent of our shopping dollars are spent outside the Macleay.
With a cinema in our area there is less reason to go to other centres for entertainment and that retail leakage can be turned around.
A cinema will also create jobs, extend CBD trading hours, attract more businesses to town, and bring an estimated 22,000 extra visitors into Kempsey each year.
The construction of a 4-screen, 507 seat commercial cinema complex in Kempsey is not viable as a 100 per cent privately funded business, due to the Macleay’s population and the high start-up costs of developing a dedicated cinema complex. This is why Kempsey does not currently have a cinema.
Consequently, Council has been negotiating with trusted cinema operators and the landlord of the Kempsey Central building to develop a unique Public Private Partnership and funding model made possible through a $2m funding contribution from the Federal Government and a $2m loan from Council.
In creating a Public Private Partnership Council is working closely with the Office of Local Government to apply the highest level of scrutiny around the processes and negotiations.
The public exhibition of the Delivery Plan forms an important part of that by putting the cinema project in the broad context of all the things we are hoping to achieve in the coming years.
