At the recent council meeting, mayor Ben Shields decided to revoke the Regand Park Master Plan. The plan was developed in 2013, but Cr Shields said he believed any work undertaken there was attention which could be better spent on the open space in Dubbo’s CBD.

The site should remain as green, open space, Cr Shields said, and could be utilised for the Titan Macquarie Mud Run and Dubbo Stampede, but no more than that.

“Our CBD has to be something we’re continually working on or we’ll see our CBD like others around the state which are ghost towns,” the mayor said.

“A great way to make our CBD [riverbank] vibrant is finally finish the job John Mason started back in the early ‘70s and that was cleaning it up and fixing it. Sadly there hasn’t been any significant work since that time.”

There are numerous multi-million dollar developments currently proposed for the CBD. They include a boutique set of residential apartments called Premiere Lane, the development of the former Daily Liberal site into 200 serviced apartments and up to 90 residential apartments, as well as 26 residential and 61 serviced apartments on Church Street. An eight-storey business hub is also in the works for Macquarie Street.

Beautifying the green space between the LH Ford and Serisier bridges would add further value to the CBD, Cr Shields said.

An irrigated picnic area is set to be installed off Tamworth Street with money raised from the Titan Macquarie Mud Run and Section 94 Contributions from recent developments. Cr Shields said it would be the last infrastructure work to be undertaken in the area.

However, the mayor said he still wanted the Mud Run and the Stampede to be involved in the CBD development.

Cr Shields has instead asked council to consider allocating $500,000 to the improvement of the CBD parks and reserves in council’s 2019/20 Budget. Another $60,000 will be used to develop a master plan for the area.