The Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society is poised to end years of speculation in coming weeks as it enters the final stages of securing a new showgrounds site.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The organisation which runs the Ballarat Show has called for a new home for years and in 2014 secured $5 million in funding from the state government for new infrastructure.
A 2015 Victoria Park master plan earmarked a new showgrounds site in the southern corner of the park, however it is unclear whether this will be the chosen location.
BAPS executive officer Lucy Quartermain said the announcement of a new location was “very, very close”, but would not provide details due to commercial in confidence.
READ MORE: New home for Ballarat Show unclear
She said the organisation would love to remain in its current location, but capacity constraints were forcing the Ballarat Show to be held across multiple venues.
The organisation owns a parcel of land at the showgrounds site on the corner of Howitt Street and Creswick Road and has access to surrounding Crown Land across the Ballarat Show weekend. However the available land has decreased through the development of Mars Stadium.
In recent years equine events have been held at the Ballarat Airport polo field, while the condition of sheds at the showgrounds has also fallen away.
At a meeting next week councillors will vote on a new strategic partnership between the City and BAPS which would see council provide $100,000 per annum to the group across the next five years.
The cash would be used to allow BAPS to continue operating at the current showgrounds site for the short term while also engaging a project manager to implement a master plan at a new location.
It is expected to take up to five years to move from the existing site to a new facility once the block purchased is finalised.
Councillor Grant Tillett said the needs of BAPS and the Ballarat Show had been overlooked in the development of Mars Stadium and it was council’s responsibility to help ensure their survival.
“The ability of BAPS to run a proper agricultural show has been severely impacted almost to the point of destruction by the continual encroachment on what was their territory by the city and sporting interests,” Cr Tillett said.
“To take away two thirds of what once was their territory...was just not acceptable.”
The vote on June 13 comes after council voted to keep Ballarat Show Friday in November as the city’s public holiday of choice instead of Melbourne Cup day at a meeting in 2017.
Deputy mayor Daniel Moloney said “the reality is ultimately the feeling of most councillors is we need to do what we can to ensure the show literally goes on”.
