The proposal to open the Westview Drive-in Theatre on April 7-9 recently gained development approval.

Dubbo City Youth Council, in partnership with Dubbo Regional Council (DRC), is behind the project.

DRC youth development officer Jason Yelverton announced the progress in bringing back the drive-in as part of the national Youth Week program.

“The development application was approved this week after extensive work was done to ensure that the drive-in would be safe to use for this special event,” he said.

“The site has been dormant 32 years so there was a lot that needed to be taken into consideration in order to get the go-ahead to use the drive-in including the development of a traffic management plan, the number of cars allowed at each screening, an emergency plan and lighting on the site.

“Now that we have received approval work can begin in earnest on making the Youth Council’s vision a reality in time for National Youth Week in April.”

A night at the drive-in is more than a movie projected on the big screen under the stars.

“One of the next steps is organising food for the event and we are looking for expressions of interest for caterers for the event,” Mr Yelverton said.

“The Youth Council needs six food vendors who must be available to work on all three nights of the event, have public liability insurance, a completed risk assessment and meet the temporary event guidelines from the NSW Food Authority.

“We want a variety of foods to be available during the event so we have also asked for proposed menus so we can make the best decision for the event.”

As the proposal to open the drive-in was announced on January 9, Mr Yelverton told the Daily Liberal the site was receiving some tender loving care, three decades after the last movie screening.

Support for the project had come from various parties including the private owner of the site, he said then.

The announcement of the proposal prompted a flood of interest on social media.

Now with development approval received, Mr Yelverton was looking ahead.

“A lot of hard work has been done and there is still more to do to make this event one of the best that the Youth Council has ever done,” he said.