Bathurst, New South Wales - Bathurst Region Development

Bathurst Region Development

Bathurst’s location close to Sydney and on major highways placed it in a desirable position for decentralisation plans by various governments over the years. Several decentralisation plans relating to Bathurst can be identified:

1. in the late 1940s the Curtin Federal Government encouraged the NSW government to establish regions for regional development purposes. Bathurst and Orange were grouped as the Mitchell Region and established as such in 1945. Later the new Menzies federal government dropped support for the regionalisation scheme however the NSW Government continued, albeit modestly, promoting the regionalisation plan.
2. on 3 October 1972 the Federal Government and New South Wales Governments agreed on a plan to introduce a decentralisation policy to various regions in NSW. This plan included a pilot growth centre in the Bathurst-Orange area and was known as the Bathurst Orange Development Corporation (BODC). Initially 13 areas were proposed, however only four were established with Bathurst-Orange and Albury-Wodonga the only in rural regional NSW. The project would comprise domestic, commercial and industrial developments and would develop the area economically, raise new capital investment, bring population to the region and create new employment opportunities. A statutory body was established by Act of Parliament to manage the BODC. The Act was effective from 1 July 1974. A key focus for the BODC was the purchase of land and to that end it purchased 209 properties around Bathurst valued at $22 million. A decline in regional trade as a result of changing global trends and the international depression and the oil shock during the mid-70s resulted in a declining interest by developers in new facilities. The BODC progressively received less and less government support and suffered liquidity problems. Several large new employers moved to Bathurst as part of the BODC initiative, including Devro, Uncle Bens (now Mars), and Omya Minerals.
3. In 1989, the Greiner government promoted the regional hub strategy that encouraged regional centres that had natural growth potential. Bathurst was one of 12 regional hub locations in NSW that received support funding for development of University expansions, administration, health and general education sectors.
4. In 2010, a new plan to attract residents and therefore business to regional centres was launched. The marketing name is EVO Cities, a name coming from Energy, Vision and Opportunity (EVO). Seven NSW regional cities including Bathurst have developed the EVO City strategy at a local government level with funding provided by the NSW and Federal governments. The strategy largely relies on advertising in capital city markets to promote residents to relocate to the EVO Cities.