The ongoing fight for a motorsport complex to be brought to the Shoalhaven has come under the spotlight ahead of the December 4 local government elections.
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South Coast motorsports advocate Norman Mogg has been driving the push for a track.
He asked the cities potential new leaders if they would support Shoalhaven City Council's involvement in pursuing the motorsports track at a Meet the Mayoral Candidates event last month.
Shoalhaven Independents candidates Greg Watson and Patricia White as well as former mayor Paul Green expressed their support.
Current Shoalhaven Mayor Amanda Findley said she would consider a track if an appropriate site and funding was sourced, but said that it would not happen in the "immediate future".
Shoalhaven City Council scrapped their development application for a motor sports complex at Yerriyong in July on the grounds it was not feasible due to potential damage to a rare and protected orchid species.
Councillors supported staff's recommendations and voted unanimously to withdraw the DA.
Original applicant Motorcycles NSW abandoned their plans to build a motor sports complex at Yerriyong In March 2017 because of the discovery of rare protected orchids on the site.
Seven months later council resolved to submit their own DA for a Yerriyong track and sought funding from the state and federal government for the 50 hectare site.
But in April and May of this year, new orchids were reported and an environmental consultant concluded that the restrictions needed to protect them would not allow for a track to be located on the site.
Paul Green, who served as Shoalhaven mayor between 2008 and 2012, expressed his support for a Shoalhaven motorsports complex and believed the Yerriyong site is still a feasible option.
"People can coexist with our biodiversity," he told the South Coast Register.
"That's the issue here, why can't we coexist with it and make it educational, so not only a dedicated motorsport track to enjoy the sport, but you can also be taught about the incredible species that exists."
Mr Green did not have any other sites in mind for the track. He added it would bring jobs and tourism to the area.
"It (the Yerriyong site) was absolutely appropriate...it was out of the residential area," he said.
"This would have been on the circuit between Canberra which is really big in the motorsports scene.
"It would have been fantastic for jobs and attracting tourism."
Cr Findley said a motorsport track was not completely off the cards and comes down to finding a site and funding.
"If the right block of land can be found and people can find the funding and they bring the plan to council with backers, then council will have to consider it," she said.
"If I am to be re-elected, I'll have to consider it as well.
"But at the moment, there's no money, there's no land. Council's spent over $300,000 on this project so far, and it's basically just been spinning wheels.
"I think that that's unfair to keep people dangling that this is a project that is going to go ahead in the immediate future when it can't even meet the basic conditions."
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