A plan for such a facility was approved by council in 2014, but three years on has been all but abandoned by the developers.

Community reaction to a fatal crash in Coleman Street this month has been stirred by police allegations that cars driven by two young men were street racing when a utility being driven by Wagga man Craig Smith was hit.

Mr Smith was killed in the crash and police have charged a 20-year-old Wagga man and an 18-year-old Batlow man with serious driving offences.

Many social media users have reignited discussion of the stalled Wokolena Road speedway plan.

The $3.78 million project was approved by councillors in November 2014, but 74 conditions including roadworks worth more than $500,000 made the project unviable, developers said.

A council spokeswoman said the developers have not contacted the city since an August 2016 meeting with council staff.

Committee 4 Wagga included the proposed Riverina Motor Complex in its 2017 strategic plan and chairwoman Judy Galloway said on Monday she still believed there was a need for a speedway in the city

Mrs Galloway believes such a facility would not only benefit young Wagga drivers, but would prove an attraction for tourists.

A group of young people gathered in Wagga for a forum told The Daily Advertiser they believed street racing in the city was more opportunistic than planned.

“It’s not something we hear a lot about. It’s more spur-of-the-moment,” Callum Snow said.

But the group believed a speedway would be popular with Wagga’s young drivers, particularly if it was teamed with advanced driver training courses.

Charles Sturt University lecturer and clinical psychologist Gene Hodgins said street racing was less about going fast than it was about risk-taking behaviour.

Dr Hodgins said the brains of adolescents and young adults were still developing, and subject to influences such as peer pressure.

“It could be that if these young people got to do the fast driving, but also – as would be the case with a defensive driving course – had to stop and think first, they might recognise the risky behaviour,” he said.