First steps taken in long-term plan to transform old gasworks site

The NSW Government announced in June 2022 that it would help Bathurst Regional Council establish whether there is contamination that needs cleaning up and any structural repairs that are required as a first step in transforming the disused, unloved site.

A year on from that announcement, the Western Advocate contacted the government for an update.

A spokesperson for the Department of Planning and Environment said the department had entered into a deed of access with gasworks site leaseholder Jemena and had engaged consultants WSP Australia to undertake a detailed site investigation to assess contamination.

"Initial investigations have been held, including a site inspection in April to conduct preliminary assessments of structures and health and safety risks on the site to help inform the scope of the detailed site investigation," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the detailed site investigation will now follow "to assess the nature and extent of any contamination on site and inform whether a remedial action plan is then needed to clean up the site".

The announcement last year of the NSW Government's interest in helping council find a new use for the site was met by support from all sides.

Gas company Jemena - which acquired its lease of the Bathurst site as part of a broader transaction in the 2000s - told the Western Advocate last year that it was hopeful that the announcement was "a positive step towards returning the site to Crown Lands so the site is able to be put to an alternative use".

Jemena's lease on the site is not due to end until 2028, but the company has made no secret of its desire to end its association with the old gasworks.

Mayor Robert Taylor, meanwhile, told the Advocate that a future step for council would be asking for expressions of interest for those with a vision for the site, though he said there were heritage structures that would need to be worked around.

Cr Taylor did, however, emphasise that any new life for the old gasworks would be well into the future.

"It's very, very early days," he said at the time.

WHILE Bathurst muses over what to do with its former gasworks, Molong has made a decision.

The gasworks site at the village north-west of Orange is set to become a direct pedestrian link between the town's main street and its sporting precinct, which are divided by the Mitchell Highway.

Cabonne Council bought the heritage-listed building for $350,000 on May 10, 2022.

"The gasworks site was established by Molong council back in approximately the 1880s," a Cabonne Council spokesperson told the Central Western Daily in May.

"It was remediated in the past decade, with an agreement in place between council and the Environment Protection Authority on the future use of the site as a car park."

The lot is now a key area in the Molong Town Centre Activation Project due to the large, vacant space alongside the building.

Beginning at the parking site at the back of IGA Molong, a laneway will run between the gasworks site and the caravan park next to it.

As part of what will be called "Gasometer Park", trees will be planted down the connecting laneway and a perimeter-screening hedge will be installed.

Picnic tables, platform benches, bins, seats and interpretive signage will also be added.