Katherine Town Council announced in November 2015 that it wanted to transform the iconic facility in a bid to  “reconnect” residents with the river corridor.

To gauge interest in the project – which is expected to cost between $550,000 and $1.2 million – the council launched a Facebook page to outline what would be done and receive community feedback.

When the consultation ended on January 27, the page had only received 186 likes and six comments, one of which vehemently opposed the project.

Despite the seeming lack of community interest, chief executive officer Robert Jennings said the council still planned to push ahead with the revitalisation.

“I guess it’s worth remembering that the project was started from people coming to us saying that they think it was a worthwhile project,” he said.

However, he admitted that the numbers did not represent an accurate cross-section of the community.

“It’s [representative] of the community who were responding,” he said.

When asked whether the council would undertake a traditional consultation in order to properly gauge community sentiment, Mr Jennings said the Facebook page “was it” at this stage.

The project is likely to be largely contingent on grant money, but the council is yet to secure any funding.

“We’re putting the funding options together,” Mr Jennings said.

“We’re speaking to Tourism NT and it seems really positive, but I can’t confirm anything until later on.”

With the hot springs attracting visitors from across the Top End, Mr Jennings said the council was cognisant that creating a work site during the dry season could be detrimental to local tourism.

“If we did it like it’s drawn at the moment, the stairs would still be accessible throughout the project,” he explained.

“We hope that it will be very minimal impact.”