A new body has been formed to advocate for the construction of a new stadium in the Australian city of Penrith after doubts were cast upon the future of the project.
New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet last year vowed to rebuild the existing Penrith Stadium – the home of National Rugby League (NRL) team Penrith Panthers – and dubbed it a hub for Western Sydney.
However, the state government and Infrastructure NSW have cooled on that idea and in July announced they were in talks to acquire the current Penrith Paceway harness racing facility, where they would build a new stadium.
With uncertainty now blighting the project following last year’s assurance, the new independent, apolitical Penrith Stadium Alliance has been founded by representatives from sport, business and the wider community.
The Weekender newspaper claims the Penrith Stadium Alliance will strongly advocate for construction of a new world class multipurpose sports and entertainment venue at the Penrith Paceway site. They want the current Penrith Stadium site to be converted into a new public open green space and want the Penrith Paceway to be relocated with the support of the NSW Government to a new site within the Penrith LGA.
“A new Penrith Stadium represents an amazing once in a generation investment into the Penrith CBD and we must get it right. It’s critical that local Penrith business has a strong voice on such an important issue,” said Alliance spokesperson Daniel McKinnon, a local business leader and Panthers fan.
“With our city and particular our CBD so critical to our local economy it’s crucial that Penrith gets the venue it needs and deserves. That can only happen on the Penrith Paceway site. The Paceway site has size for a modern stadium that just isn’t available on the current stadium site.”
The Alliance has created a petition backing the new stadium and is calling on supporters to leverage their database and local contacts to generate as many signatures as possible.
“It will demonstrate to Government that the new stadium is a welcome advancement to our great city and that the days of Penrith being used as a punching bag for Eastern Sydney centric decision makers and media have long since evaporated,” the Alliance said.
McKinnon added: “We accept that with any form of new infrastructure there is disruption and inconvenience, In this case we strongly believe it is in the interest of more Penrith businesses that the current stadium operations be maintained during construction of the new venue.”
The decision to focus on the Penrith Paceway site for the new stadium followed a six-week community consultation programme, which gathered feedback from over 3,000 people.
Penrith Paceway is located just across the road from Panthers’ existing BlueBet Stadium. It is hoped that a new stadium could be built by 2025.
