This is the opinion of Wingecarribee Shire councillor Ian Scandrett a former chair of council's arts and cultural committee.

His comment comes in the wake of news that Wingecarribee Shire Council has secured $2.8 million in grant funding to renovate Bowral Memorial Hall.

Cr Scandrett said he welcomed the news which meant that the reluctance to proceed with the long awaited upgrade and renovation work had now gone.

However, he said he would continue to "push for the whole job to be commenced as soon as possible while the hall is dark."

He said the need for council to complete the full approved renovation of the Bowral Memorial Hall was especially important with the Mittagong Playhouse "off the air until 2022."

"No productions are in rehearsals so we have a great window to do the major works on the actual hall now," he said.

Cr Scandrett said he had long pushed for a multi-purpose performing arts centre for the shire.

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"I personally scoped a Performing Arts Centre prior to the election in 2012 with local professionals - 350 seats, tiered and accessible seating, versatile stage, loading dock and fly tower, expandable floor area in front of stage, facilities including a café and a display area as some of the desired facilities," he said.

"This received lots of support from the Arts Community.

"The government loves funding good arts projects. Goulburn is delivering theirs now [at a cost of $18m], as has Wollongong, and of course Metropolitan South West Sydney is catered for by the Casula Powerhouse and others."

Cr Scandrett said a similar facility for the Southern Highlands would most likely cost between $15-18m plus land.

He said it would need to be near a railway station so that day trippers could visit and see travelling shows.

Cr Scandrett said that it would also need to be able to hold multiple touring shows such as the currently very successful "Seniors Moments", various professionally presented international plays and other shows, lectures and performances.

"We can not rely on school halls - they do not suit theatre rehearsal lead times even in holidays," he said.

"The Southern Highlands has so many arts people in it - it is amazing.

"There are so many well-known names all wanting to support and work in their shire.

"This shire is a magnet for the Performing Arts and we aren't providing for that.

"We should be building on this for both community and inbound tourism, which of course can be from Sydney or afar."

Cr Scandrett said council he had planned for the Bowral Memorial Hall to be the region's centre of musical excellence and he believed that would be a great facility with great visitor facilities.

He said he expected it would attract visiting musical performances in addition to "our own fabulous Southern Highlands Symphony Orchestra and Southern Highlands Concert Band."

"It would be much used and admired. I believe it would attract associated education and specialists teachers and lecturers," he said.

Use of the Bowral Memorial Hall by community groups came to a halt with the COVID-19 restrictions in late March.

Cr Scandrett said he understood all future bookings at this stage had been cancelled.

"The hall is dark. It's an ideal time to start major works," he said.

And he has little doubt that once the work is completed the facility would return to a busy program.

"When the hall was operating it was difficult to get a booking, especially for multi-day events. The SHCB and SHSO book two years in advance, along with their guest artists. Many other users such as Theatre also have solid lead times," he said.

Cr Scandrett said the hall had also long been occupied each year with private hires including commercial events, seniors activities such as those associated with Seniors' Week, dance classes and displays, community meetings, art shows, antique shows, auction events, flower shows, book fairs and meetings as well as tourist attractions, lectures and other visiting events.

Among the major works Cr Scandrett believes should begin immediately are roof truss repairs and ceiling replacement, and the installation of a lift to the stage from the current kitchen area.

He said other work that could be staged, included building a new kitchen, bar and box office counter in the front foyer, reworking the entrance and foyer and disabled bathrooms, and installing a lift from front foyer to upstairs rehearsal rooms.

However, he said he would push for all the work to be "done now while it is dark."

"We have the reserves to cover all this work awaiting the grant," he said.

"The initial estimate in 2015 was around $3.5 million. The current estimate is around $6 million.

"$3.5 million was put into a reserve three years ago as the project was getting closer and detailed design and costing was undertaken.

"The project is the only shovel ready, community infrastructure project we have."

"The proposed upgrade also includes a top class sound system with a new control both upstairs at the back [accessible from the new rehearsal rooms].

"In readiness some years ago we relocated all the arts tenants from upstairs to a house in Station Street which council owns."

Cr Scandrett said that with the Mittagong Playhouse and the Bowral Memorial Hall "now offline" it was the perfect time to have all major works done.

He said the Playhouse had been stripped, but was now getting design work for 2021/22 with $2m set aside for the work. He and Cr Turland both believed the Memorial Hall and Playhouse should both be fast-tracked.

Cr Scandrett said that with the draft budget now on exhibition this was the time for the arts community to push for the project to start soon.