“Dogs eat steak, while the family eats rabbit”, was an old Depression-era proverb about the care and attention that working-class families lavished on their pampered racing greyhounds.

Orange City Council hasn’t been doing much pampering of the coursing fraternity lately, however, recently passing a motion opposing a Greyhound Centre of Excellence for east Orange, that they themselves had previously supported.

The $15 million racing complex is planned for the site of the former harness racing headquarters on Perc Griffth Way that closed in 2013 and would feature a new track, 112-kennel facility, clubhouse, and parking, all designed to bring weekly greyhound racing to the area.

Council had earlier given a thumbs-up to the NSW Greyhound Breeders, Owners and Trainers Association (GBOTA) initiative to buy the old trotting track from Council.

Approval for the DA (Development Application), though, has been flicked to the State Government Western Regional Planning Panel, to avoid potential conflict-of-interest issues to do with Council approving a sale to which it is also a beneficiary.

So far, so good, however, Council’s most recent meeting voted 5-4 on a motion to forward an official objection to the Western Regional Planning Panel, after a collection of protestors opposing the DA, attended the Tuesday, April 7 full Council meeting.

This newest development, proposal advocate, Councillor Jeff Whitton told Orange City Life, leaves Council in a neat dilemma where it has passed on the final decision for a development to an external arbiter so as not to appear conflicted, but has now offered a formal opinion of that same development.

Following severe flooding at the Council-owned dog track at Kennerson Park in Bathurst that saw racing ending there in 2022, he said that this was a perfect opportunity to return racing to the Colour City

“I’m a supporter of the greyhound community, a big supporter,” Cr Whitton enthused.

“After the big flood at Bathurst where they lost their track, I said, Orange should go for it, it should be the centre of excellence in the region, as it was before we lost the grass track at Wade Park in 2005,” he added.

He said that a previous Council had welcomed the approach from the GBOTA and the economic benefits that regular race meets would bring the local economy.

“Council determined to support the racing community after GBOTA had come up and offered to buy the old trotting track,” Cr Whitton said.

“We’d signed a contract with GBOTA to purchase the land and, one of the contingencies in the arrangement, was that the development had to go ahead by a certain time.”

A change of personnel after the most recent local government elections, however, with more green-aligned representatives in the Chamber, led to the decision for the council to now oppose the development over concerns including: “negative social and economic impacts”.

Cr Whitton, however, said that valid reasons to oppose DAs, cannot usually cover value judgements by animal rights groups ideologically opposed to a legal sport due to its patchy historical reputation in regards to humane treatment of its charges.

“I was planning chairman for 10 years, and DAs are invariably determined by a qualified assessor, based on the merit of the application; if planning bodies like councils then reject that assessment, an appeal to the Land and Environment Court, will almost always sees that decision overturned,” Cr Whitton said.

“I’m 100 per cent supportive of the greyhound families, if Council has a conflict of interest in being the seller of the land, then that same conflict of interest, would also apply to motions opposing that same DA,” he concluded.

Orange Mayor, Tony Mileto, told ABC Central West that while animal welfare advocates at the Tuesday meeting addressed social impact and animal welfare concerns, “the issues I believe will be determined by the WRPP, will be not only based on social impacts, but on planning issues themselves," he said.

The planning panel was scheduled to hold a determination hearing on Tuesday.