Cr Ryan said he would look at constructing a lake in the city during his election campaign. At the first council meeting he introduced a motion for council to research the feasibility of the project.

“The thing I like about them is that they’re community meeting places. I grew up in Shepparton where there was a lake, thousands of people would be out there on hot summer nights, kids would be kicking footballs and chasing dogs around. It’s a great community feel,” Cr Ryan said.

It would attract people to the town, Cr Ryan said, but would also be enjoyed and supported by the locals.

In the past week Cr Ryan has visited the lakes in Albury and Tamora.

“I’d like a lake for Dubbo and I’m wondering why every other place in Australia seems to be able to have a lake except us,” he said.

In Temora, Cr Ryan asked two of the locals about their view on the lake.

“We love it, we don’t use it enough. The whole community uses it quite a lot and we’re very happy to have it here,” one resident said.

Another said: “We live about 35 kilometres out of town and we’ve just bought the boat in on a Wednesday afternoon. Can’t complain.”.

In Albury Cr Ryan said the Albury Ski Club shared the lake with rowers and dragon boaters.

It was a great amenity for the city, he said.

There’s been mixed reactions to the establishment of a man-made lake in the city. As of Wednesday afternoon, a poll on the Daily Liberal website had been taken by more than 400 people. Of those, 60 per cent said they were in favour of the lake, while 40 per cent disagreed.

Cr Ryan said there were federal and state grants which could be used to fund a lake in Dubbo. There were also options such as building a caravan park on the site or selling the lake-side land, he said.

“Goondiwindi is a town of 4,000 people, they out a lake in and they part funded it by putting a subdivision in so people could buy blocks on the lake,” Cr Ryan said.