The Blue Mountains animal shelter in Katoomba has been saved from closure after Blue Mountains City Council and the RSPCA reached an agreement over the future of the facility.
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RSPCA NSW has offered to transfer ownership of the shelter and land to Blue Mountains City Council for $1 after reaching an agreement that includes a 20-year covenant to protect the site's ongoing use as a local animal care and rehoming shelter.
The agreement is the result of months of discussions between the RSPCA, the council and Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle following RSPCA NSW's decision not to renew council pound management contracts and close the facility by July 5, 2024.
Trish Doyle said: "I am pleased to have facilitated important conversations and negotiations over the past six months between the RSPCA and Blue Mountains City Council. I am thrilled with the outcome - having made suggestions to this effect - for our community.
"I thank the RSPCA for arriving at a decision that honours the extraordinary history of the shelter and I very much look forward to working together with council and the community on the Mort Street shelter facility into a positive future," she said.
Jan O'Leary from Save Our Shelter said the organisation was "over the moon" to hear the news.
"We have long campaigned for RSPCA to give the shelter site to the Blue Mountains City Council. The council is the only body which represents all Blue Mountains residents who maintain moral ownership of the shelter. Now the task is to begin discussions so that we can have a first-class, community-run shelter which can operate alongside council as it carries out its obligatory pound operations."
RSPCA NSW CEO Steve Coleman said the organisation has "been in favour of the council operating the Mort Street Animal Care Facility from the outset and are delighted that Blue Mountains City Council will be committing to continuing to use this facility as a local hub for pound and rehoming services".
"Like all of our state's 128 local councils, Blue Mountains City Council is well placed to provide pound services for residents. RSPCA NSW's long history of working closely with the council and supporting the local community will continue as we provide continuity of companion animal management services during this transition."
Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill said the council is "delighted that negotiations with RSPCA NSW have resulted in a solution that means best practice animal welfare services can continue across the city, after four successful decades".
"This matter will go to the March council meeting and following endorsement by the council, the Mort Street facility can be used for the ongoing purposes of rehoming, care and protection of animals."
The RSPCA's announcement in July 2023 that it planned to close the Mort Street shelter was met with community anger, with residents holding a protest as recently as March 2 demanding the organisation's head office return the facility to the community
The Katoomba shelter was built in the 1980s with community funds, including income from two shops operated by the local branch and money left by locals in their wills.
The RSPCA's agreement with Blue Mountains City Council was reached after the RSPCA sought legal advice and consulted with its members, Board of Directors, and the Government from late 2023 to February this year.
RSPCA NSW said it will remain present in the Blue Mountains community by continuing to deliver preventative initiatives, such as our Keeping Cats Safe at Home project, which has been in conjunction with the council for the last three years, along with inspectorate activity and community outreach support programs.
"Our organisation will continue to support the Blue Mountains as we have always done, independent of a bricks-and-mortar shelter, just like many other communities around NSW," said Mr Coleman.
