Chance to liven up section of Strand
A PROPOSED concert hall could be a chance to enliven a struggling section of The Strand as part of a bid to capitalise on the idyllic location.
While Townsville politicians are remaining coy about where exactly the concert hall could be located, saying it will be up to the independent consultant who completes the business case, the land currently occupied by Enterprise House and the Townsville Bowls Club has been suggested as the ideal spot.
This comes as the federal government has committed $2m in funding for a business case on the new concert hall, allocated through the Townsville City Deal.
If the business case is complete, the remaining $98m will be released.
The funding was announced as part of a bigger commitment with the left over Haughton Pipeline funding.
Australian Festival of Chamber Music chairwoman Sandra Yates (right) said while the official decision should be left to the experts, the Marina end of The Strand would be an ideal location. “It’s got to be in the best location,” Ms Yates said.
“Sixty per cent of people who come to the Australian Festival of Chamber Music … travel from interstate and a lot of them, almost all of them, stay along The Strand.”
She said coupled with The Hive project, which will include office, retail and service industry space, the concert hall could bring the eastern end of The Strand to life.
Ms Yates said while the concert hall was not a done deal, the commitment was certainly encouraging.
She said a while a preliminary business case was completed some time ago, it was done with a “very broad brush” and this additional work would help reassure people that it made economic sense.
Herbert MP Phillip Thompson said while the initial concert hall funding was for a business case, it would mainly focus on the ideal location for the project.
“I don’t think anyone would ever think that a business case for a concert hall in Townsville, that doesn’t have a concert hall, wouldn’t stack up,” Mr Thompson said.
“It will, and I am sure the arts community … will be behind this.”
Mr Thompson couldn’t say how long the business case would take, with the state government’s GST allocation concerns still to sort out in order for the federal government to be able to release the funding to Townsville City Council.
Deputy Mayor Mark Molachino encouraged the state and federal governments to sit down and discuss the GST issues because the council was “ready to rock and roll”.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said on Monday the federal govern
ment was refusing to the be drawn into the discussion about GST.
“That means effectively, they’re saying they’ll commit $12m towards this project, but they’ll take $9.6m of it away from Queensland, their only real commitment is the equivalent of $2.4m,” he said.
The state government opted to fund the Haughton Pipeline Stage 2 because the federal government would not quarantine the GST.
Mr Thompson accused the state government of treating Townsville like “second class citizens” because of the move.
“The state Labor government in the same process will accept money from the federal government on the Gold Coast for stage two of their light rail,” he said.