Newcastle Art Gallery in New South Wales, Australia, is gearing up for a long-awaited AU$45m (US$32.1m, €28.3m, £24.8m) expansion.

The gallery currently only exhibits around 2 per cent of the 6,400 works in its collection each year and the expansion would provide the gallery with more exhibition space to showcase more of those pieces.

On top of the increased exhibition space, the expansion is set to include more storage, a secure loading dock and a café.

"The best regional collection in Australia is housed in a very poor building," said former City of Newcastle lady mayoress Cathy Tate on the need for expansion.

The subject of expansion has been a hotly debated topic for more than a decade in the region, particularly at a political level.

Former lord mayor Jeff McCloy, in office from 2012 to 2014, was forced to hand back AU$7m (US$5m, €4.4m, £3.9m) in federal grant money after failing to secure further state funding in that period.

Now, Newcastle Labor MP Tim Crakanthorp has committed AU$14M (US$10m, €8.8m, £7.7m) to expand the gallery should he win the upcoming local state election in March.

On top of that, the local council is updating the business case for the expansion. "Business cases, like any document, become out of date. We’re expecting a draft this month that we’ll be able to present to the government," current Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.

"It's shovel-ready and has been for a number of years. There’s an approved draft agreement for the redevelopment and the business case will include options that can be resubmitted back to the Treasury.

"In particular, it will update the estimates because since the last time this project was mooted it will have some increase in building costs."