A GROUP of Swan Valley business owners and government and council representatives met recently to discuss proposals for the relocation and expansion of the Swan Valley Visitor Centre.
It is more than a year since the City of Swan voted to undertake a two-stage process to investigate different options for the centre, located in the old Guildford Court House.
City of Swan chief executive Mike Foley said the first phase involved identifying possible new locations.
“An initial element of the search for a new site was to identify locations in the Swan Valley that are owned by the City or the State Government,” he said.
“Suggested sites discussed at the workshop were near entry points to the valley.
“These will need to be assessed against required criteria for the centre.”
Sites identified as suitable would be investigated in more detail, he said.
“It has been recognised that we need a larger centre to accommodate the growth being experienced in our tourism industry,” he said.
Swan Valley Progress Association president Rod Henderson said moving the centre meant an opportunity for the area to have a facility similar to that in Margaret River.
“In order to take on other tourism-related activities, the centre needs hectares to develop,” he said.
“There is a long way to go with this project, but there is strong argument for it to happen.”
Before the City took on the management of the centre in 2000, the Swan Valley Tourism Council operated it.
The centre moved to the Guildford Court House site in December 2002.