THE Royal Agricultural Society has recorded another million-dollar loss after the worst attended Perth Royal Show in several decades.

Last year’s net loss of $1.7 million comes after a $1.8 million loss in 2015. In its annual report, the RAS blamed wet and cold weather for the poor attendance of 311,000 people.

“There was rain on six days, high winds and the maximum daytime temperatures stayed below 20C,” chief executive Peter Cooper said.

The 2016 attendance compares to 353,000 in 2015, nearly 410,000 in 2014 and more than 450,000 in 2013.

State government subsidies in 2013 and 2014 meant children under 12 were admitted free.

RAS treasurer Dudley Elliott said last year’s Show generated about $10 million in revenue, “a shortfall of $1.5 million on budget and, disappointingly, about $1.1 million down on the previous year”.

He said any organisation that generated 80 per cent of its annual revenue in eight days would always be vulnerable to variables such as weather.

But Mr Elliott said that while the RAS had more than $3.7 million in the bank, the situation was not critical.

“But the need for change is,” he said. “External to the Show, we are looking to diversify our revenues through other uses of the facilities during the year.”

President Rob Wilson, whose three-year term expired in June, said the Claremont Showground redevelopment — which could include short-stay apartments, research facilities and pop-up markets — had been delayed by “bureaucratic inactivity”.

Mr Cooper said the plan had been submitted to the Department of Planning in December 2015. Assessment had taken “longer than anticipated”.

“The strategic imperative to diversify operations to earn revenue outside the eight-day period of the Show is for the long-term sustainability of RASWA,” Mr Cooper said.

New president Paul Carter said yesterday that an agreement had been reached with the department to have the plan assessed by the end of the year.

He said the society would like to see the showground used year round and perhaps developed as an agricultural centre of excellence that could include an agricultural themed facility for schoolchildren.

Mr Carter said, like most farmers, the society looked to plan for good years and the not-so-good years.

“We’ve had a couple of bad years but we are confident that the future is bright and the 2017 show will be one of the best ever,” he said.

This year’s Show runs from September 23-30.