The Bathurst Regional Council announced this evening that two grants totalling $12.5 million have been withdrawn by the federal government.
The two grants, one worth $10 million and one worth $2.5 million, were awarded to the council to go towards the construction of a second circuit in Bathurst to sit alongside the famous Mount Panorama circuit.
However the grants required the new circuit to be built, and the money spent, by 2026.
With that deadline now unrealistic, and efforts to divert the funds into upgrades to the existing Mount Panorama circuit unsuccessful, the funding has been reversed and the second circuit project put on ice.
“Unfortunately, we were advised [that repurposing the funds] didn’t align with the intent of the original grant funding,” said Bathurst mayor Robert Taylor.
“The project is on hold for now, but council strongly supports development of the second circuit and will continue to work with both the federal and state governments and other stakeholders to make it happen.”
The council had raised a total of $27.5 million for a project it expected to cost around $52 million.
There was the now-withdrawn $12.5 million of federal funding, as well as a total of $15 million of state government funding – $5 million of which has already been spent on the design and documentation for the development application.
The council had secured a 200-hectare site behind McPhillamy and Reid Parks on Mount Panorama, where it had planned to build a permanent circuit facility, entirely seperate from the existing track.
That facility would have had year-round use, unlike the existing circuit which is actually an open tourist road that can only be closed for racing five times per year.
Those events are the Bathurst 12 Hour, the Bathurst 6 Hour, the Bathurst 1000, Challenge Bathurst and the Bathurst International.
The plans for the second circuit included a 4.5-kilometre layout with both FIA and FIM approvals.