TAMWORTH Regional Council is calling for ideas to re-purpose the Westdale reservoir which has been spared from the bulldozers.
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Council initially proposed to demolish two unused water reservoirs, one on Panorama Road in Calala and one on Gunnedah Road, to the tune of $140,000.
While the old water tanks were ready to be razed, a new wave of thought washed through the council chambers this week.
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Council has held off on knocking down the Gunnedah Road reservoir, which was isolated from service in late 2017, and thrown-down the challenge to the community to find a new use for the site.
Mayor Col Murray said it could be beneficial to “test the market” and see what ideas were out there before it was too late.
“People can do some clever and quirky things,” Cr Murray said.
It was going to cost $80,000 to demolish the reservoir which stands on 1.3 hectare parcel of land.
Council has recently reviewed its water supply strategy for Tamworth.
As part of this process, it was identified that two existing reservoirs, Panorama Road and Westdale reservoirs, were no longer of operational value.
Juanita Wilson suggested the base of the of the Calala reservoir could have been saved too.
The Panorama Road site adjoins land zoned for public recreation and Cr Wilson said the hard base of the reservoir could be “a great asset” as a space for ball games.
She moved to defer the demolition of both sites but didn’t muster enough support. Cr Wilson, chair of council’s heritage working group, has previously championed repurposing disused sites in town.