A report commissioned by the former Dubbo City Council revealed the city’s need for a “good boarding school”, according to businessman and community leader Matt Wright.
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Mr Wright, president of Dubbo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the report by Bernard Salt identified the absence of a boarding school as an “area where the city could be held back”.
On Wednesday Mr Wright threw the chamber’s full support behind a bid by Macquarie Anglican Grammar School to enrol teenage boarders as early as 2019.
The West Dubbo school, owned by the Anglican Schools Corporation, is currently consulting with Western NSW families on the proposal that includes the use of an existing facility in the city to accommodate boarders.
Mr Wright said a boarding school in Dubbo would boost jobs and its economy.
“I just think there’s benefits for retail stores, restaurants, hotels and motels as parents come in to visit their kids,” he said. “Unfortunately, a lot of those students who do come from out west are bypassing Dubbo. The nearest boarding school is well and truly past Dubbo.
“I’d like to think that we’re a bit closer to home for a lot of those students and their parents would consider Dubbo as a pretty attractive place for their kids to go to school.”
Almost 85 per cent of respondents to a Daily Liberal poll asking “Do you think Dubbo should have a boarding school?” had answered “yes” by mid-afternoon on Wednesday.
