Another packed Council meeting has seen more passionate supporters of the Regent Theatre speak in favour of Council pursuing the idea of purchasing and supporting the building.
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At the February 20 Council meeting, two members of the public spoke in support of Councillor Russell Holden's motion, Judith James and Charmaine Lynch.
The motion asked that Council conduct a 'fact finding mission' aiming to explore the realities around purchasing the Regent including identifying grant opportunities, potential operators, feasibility study quotes and additional sources of funding.
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"Everyone is passionate about the Regent, we understand the importance of the cultural heritage tha the Regent has. And I personally am very supportive of seeing that come into public hands and be brought back to life. I'm not going to spend money willy nilly and I want to understand exactly what it is that the community would like to see," Cr Holden said.
Councillor Sam Paine moved an amendment that was ultimately passed that pushed Council's 'fact finding mission' on a Regent purchase until after the March 6 auction date. The reason being that a private purchase could render any work Council conducts moot.
"Obviously I do agree with Russell that these are the steps that we need to go through. But, before we get to our March meeting we're going to have the auction for this and everything could change there and we might have completely different steps that we need to look at if we're going to help make this happen," Cr Paine said.
The Regent Theatre will go up for auction on March 6.
