A "premier event space" is being planned for Wangaratta, amid criticism that the lack of a proper entry at the city's showgrounds is a "disgrace".
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Wangaratta Council community wellbeing director Jaime Chubb told last week's meeting that officers were looking into options for creating a space to hold big outdoor events.
"Certainly the showgrounds and specifically the rodeo ground area is an ideal opportunity for us to explore that," she said.
"We really need to have a premier events space developed within Wangaratta so we can continue to develop and attract those kinds of large-scale events."
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She said such an attraction would have social and economic benefits.
"It's certainly a priority and we're actually in the middle of working through that process at the moment," Ms Chubb said.
The revelation came in response to a question from former councillor Ron Webb, who said Wangaratta has previously had to knock back hosting events that could attract about 3000 people because it did not have a venue.
He said clubs based at the showgrounds all used three different entrances, but none were a "welcoming sight". "One of the disturbing things about the showgrounds over many years in my time on council and as a community member has been a lack of an entrance," he said.
"None of them give you the impression of the beautiful oval and the surrounds that are inside that facility.
"They're a disgrace really, the three entry points."
The old umpires building at the showgrounds, near the Evans Street entrance, will have to be rebuilt after a deliberately lit fire in October last year.
"Seeing the demolition there certainly opens up that corner, whether that's the opportunity that we've been looking for or whether it still exists somewhere else," Mr Webb said.
Ms Chubb said the Wangaratta Showgrounds masterplan could look into the creation of a new entrance at what she called "an incredible asset there right within our CBD".