Plans for a motor sport track at the former Fiskville CFA training site could be a step closer to getting off the ground if Moorabool council has anything to do with it.
Remediation works at Fiskville are expected to be completed in the next two years and a proposal to turn it into a racing track has started to gain traction.
Ballarat council and the state government spent $90,000 to develop a feasibility study for a regional racing precinct in 2015.
This month, Moorabool council set aside $100,000 in its 2018-19 draft budget for a business case for the site.
The draft budget is out now for public feedback and is due to be adopted in June.
Moorabool mayor Paul Tatchell said the council would chip in with Ballarat and Geelong councils, as well as the state and federal governments, to develop the business case.
He expected it would cost about $400,000.
“Every shire is facing the same problem with these [motor] sports which are difficult to host in town,” he said. “I think we’d be in a position to make a play a month or two months out [from the state election], we just need more relevant data to take to the minister.”
A plan has been formulated for a motor sport track but land was never formally identified for the project, Cr Tatchell said.
In its feasibility study, Ballarat council found that the facility would need to be built outside of the municipality to accommodate the 240-300 hectares of land required.
Fiskville was identified as a favourable location because it is government owned.
The state government has already spent $80 million to remediate the former training facility.
Confederation of Australian Motor Sport chief executive Eugene Arocca said that the peak racing body would join the lobbying effort.
“There’s no better start than identifying the land and by all accounts it’s a place that needs to be cleaned up,” Mr Arocca said.
“I’m a little bit cautious as it’s the very first step in a long, long journey, but kudos to the council for taking that step.”
