Friends and Colleagues,

It is my obligation and pleasure to report on the scope of the activities on the Parks and Playgrounds Movement over its fifty-first year. As usual it has been an increasingly hectic and frustrating year for the conservation of our natural and cultural heritage.

The Movement experienced the difficulties that every volunteer organisation experiences when they lose long term loyal workers like the late Jack Shield and we are lucky that David Griffin was prepared to help out. Treasurer is not an easy job for the Movement, which has almost no financial resources other than our ten-dollar member subscriptions and a few donations. Our strength is, and always will be, the civic-spirited members of your committee that are prepared to serve the public interest. Increased membership and donations or fundraising is essential to supplement the out of pocket expenses of your executive.

We are saddened at the death of both of our Patrons Anne Von Bertouch and Joy Cummings this year and we extend our heartfelt condolence to their families and loved ones. Both women were great supporters of the Movement over many years and have made great contributions to the environment and to their city -two truly great women.

We are facing three major ecological land use issues in the Lower Hunter today and all the wisdom and public-spirited action that we can mounted is needed if a sustainable future is to be achieved for our region.

o The biodiversity green corridor through the Hunter River estuary from the Stockton Bight to the Sugarloaf Range.

o The implementation of the longstanding green buffer proposed in the Hunter Regional Environmental Plan between the city of Wyong and the city of Lake Macquarie.

o The protection of the Newcastle railway corridor to Newcastle’s heritage railway station and the development of attractive urban nodes and transfer facilities that focus on all our railway stations.

The Biodiversity Corridor Strategy

The Biodiversity Corridor Strategy Statement is accepted and supported by an ever-widening circle of regional state and National organisations and I am pleased to say that our Secretary Helen Smith and Brian Purdue have been at the fore in bring groups together for the Statement that has been Launched
today.

One of the key pressure points in the corridor has been the area known as the Tank Paddock. This land is part of the huge Coal and Allied Operations land holdings in the Lower Hunter that include the private township of Minmi. The state government should not have allowed the former colliery lands to be subdivided for sale on the completion of mining activities. These lands were originally granted for mining purposes not urban real estate development. An open land use inquiry or strategic study was needed to guide the exit of colliery operators. Planners knew the problem of collieries sterilising land from development and the potential for planned conservation outcomes since the old Northumberland County Council. The Hunter Region never had the large 7300 ha National Parks like The Royal N Park (1879) and Ku ring gai Chase N Park around Sydney which were set aside in the 1880s. We have been a mining province since 1804 and we have the scars to prove it.

The Movement supports the Thornton -Killingworth sub-regional conservation and development strategy as a positive initiative of the new Department Of Infrastructure Planning and Natural Resources. We believe that the study identifies the need to develop degraded sites and to protect ecologically sensitive areas like the Tank Paddock. Our main concern has always been that former colliery lands were being split up without the guidance of an overall strategic planning framework.

The Newcastle Council was wrong to initiate the amendments to the LEP that would allow rural zoned land at Tank Paddock to be broken into 2000 sq metre subdivision lots. Furthermore when it became obvious that the proposal was contrary to conservation and contrary to the principles of the new LEP it should have been dropped. Sadly the council has doggedly ploughed on with a large expenditure of ratepayer’s funds the outcome of which could only facilitate windfall profits. We have continued to lobby on this issue. I have written over a hundred letters and I know that many others like Brian have been
working continuously. The Biodiversity Corridor will become the overarching concept to be achieved.

The Movement played an important part in obtaining the agreement for the State and Commonwealth funding for acquisition of lands so that the Hexham wetlands could be protected and properly ventilated. Why was the last remaining wooded margin even considered for development and what is being done to ensure long-term protection of the wetlands?

The Department’s Newcastle Port Concept Report issued in July 2003 was welcomed as necessary to set the strategy for future port development. However the report had hardly finished the public comment stage when the Government issued SEPP 74, which swept away much of the value of the report. SEPP 74 locks the port into the arbitrary destruction of a green fields site in the flood way for the Austeel. This proposed development should be on the already debilitated area of Kooragang Island .are near the South Channel where rail and deep-water access are already available.

A modern ecologically sustainable port that protects the remaining ecological values of the estuary is the only development that is acceptable in this new century.

Wyong /City of Lake Macquarie Buffer.

The Wallarah Peninsula has been under urban development pressure since the1990 Gordon Pacific days when the developer Gordon merged with the Wallamaine Colliery interests and proposed a 600 million-dollar resort and residential area. The planning guidelines were thrown away and local Council became part of the development push rather than the planning regulator. The resort concept was never really viable and ultimately failed. The land then went to the Bank who held the mortgage. The zoning had been set to facilitate the resort and it was too difficult rezone it back to environmental protection. The new development is now before Council.

The Hunter Regional Environmental Plan. (REP 1982) required the Department of Planning, Local Councils and relevant authorities, to investigate the feasibility of a buffer zone between Wyong and Lake Macquarie especially by the reservation of appropriate public Lands. The authorities should have completed this by now but the reality is that the planners have failed us and we must again fight for the Peninsula and the green buffer lands south of the Lake. Conservation lands from Catherine Hill Bay through to Crangan Bay on the Lake should not have been under threat of development with the exit of
mining; they should be part of a Lake Macquarie National Park. We support the work of the Wallarah Peninsular Aliance. The statutory mandate to set out these reserves has been in place since REP1982. Positive implementation is now in order.

Rail Transport and urban settlement

The protection of the rail corridor and the retention of rail services to the historic Newcastle Station is one of the most important conservation and heritage issues facing the region. Passenger rail services have been in place between Maitland and Newcastle since 1857 and their retention is important if Newcastle is to remain a people friendly city. The railway is an essential service giving structure and an ecologically effective transport spine to our built environment. Removing the rail from Newcastle is like removing the lifts or elevators from a multi storied building – its stupid. However, efforts to improve operations and beautify the corridor in Newcastle make sense. The Scott Street frontage to the Newcastle Station
should be restored its former glory and attractive fencing erected along the line. The sections of historic fence in Scott & Hunter Streets cleaned and restored and the foundations of the AA Coy Bridge across Hunter Street conserved and neatly presented. Councillors should stop the spread of clutter on the foreshore and trains should not be stabled in the corridor. We must note that it is the railway that has kept Newcastle open to its Harbour.

The concept of the rail entry into the heritage station with the harbour on one side and the historic old town on the other is a classic solution to public rail transport and deserves all the support we can muster. Rolling stock and operational management has changed since the 1800’s and will change in the future but the need for an operating railway and corridor will always be essential for as long as there is a Newcastle City.

It is time that this was made clear to the State Government and I hope will be one of the outcomes of the Lower Hunter transport studies and the current controversies. There has been too much woolly thinking on the rail issue and it is disappointing the Mayor of Newcastle has not played a positive role in this regard. There are many things that councils can do to improve public transport: maintain bus shelters and bus stops, provide safe road crossings and encouraging private cars to use carparks and make available a free courtesy bus circulating the CBD.

Furthermore urban village development must be encouraged or redeveloped around each of our rail stations and transfer facilities provided at stations where they are needed. Local Government needs to be an advocate for improved services not removed services.

Coal River Precinct

Parks and Playgrounds Movement wants a Coal River Precinct Masterplan that will coordinate the future development of the Precinct completed for next year.

The Master planing process would review all historic activities associated with the precinct and integrate the policies of those authorities with interest in the area. The process would also indicate the gaps in the
historical knowledge of the settlement, convict coalmining and the aboriginal prehistory and initiate new research and archaeological investigation.

The Movement published a Prospectus for Newcastle’s Coal River Historic Site just four years ago in October 1999. We did this for the Lord Mayor Cr. John Tate to take to Canberra. It was a well-presented coloured document prepared at no cost to Council and contained a simple 10-point Action Plan to be completed ready for the 200th anniversary of the founding of the city. The commonwealth promised $40,000 dollars but the Council unfortunately wasted the money and we find ourselves in the same position we were in 1999 with the work not started.

In an effort to salvage the situation we ran a workshop as part of the National Trust Heritage Festival in April this year. Thankfully the Newcastle Permanent sponsored the workshop and we were able to have the workshop notes professionally printed. The cost of having the notes colour copied and circulated to the media and members of parliament was a cost against us. The workshop notes and findings have been placed on the following webpage: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/coalriver where they can be studied or downloaded.

Out of our Herculean efforts has come at last recognition by the State Government of the heritage of the founding of Newcastle and the first Coalmining in Australia but we still await the gazettal of the Coal River Precinct even though it has been promised. We also asked the NSW Cabinet to vote $500,000 to this project but have had no reply at this stage.

The Hon Diane Beamer MP presented me with a certificate of appreciation at Parliament House in October for my voluntary contribution to heritage conservation and I hope you will all share this me. The Coal River Precinct started as the Movement’s proposal for a Historic Site in 1968 and the Foreshore Park sprang from our advocacy of the historic associations. We have produced three excellent documents to form the basis for action: The 1998 Community Perspectives on Planning for the Future of Newcastle, the 1999 Coal River Historic Site Prospectus and the 2003 Coal River Precinct workshop notes. The Movement would have liked these efforts to have finally come to full fruition by 30 March in our bicentennial year 2004.

It is very pleasing to note that the University of Newcastle has taken up the initiative with a Coal River Working Party under the leadership of Erik Eklund Senior Lecturer School of Liberal Arts. Newcastle Council has made $10,000 dollars available for the working party to locate and explore the extent of the convict coal workings and the university is undertaking further historical research. These initiatives are very much appreciated.

Community Land under threat – That means Public Parkland

The clear publicly transparent management of our parklands and reserves is public lands and Councillors have a duty as trustees to protect them for the benefit of the general public who are the beneficiaries of the trust.

The Movement has attempted to draw the community’s attention to the alienation of public lands. We not only advocate compliance with the law but we want to see a will to protect and improve our parks and reserves for the public. Unfortunately there are public lands clearly identified and held in trust for parkland that are not classified as Community Land as was required under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1993 clause 6 Shedule7. They include the Wallsend Brickworks Area and the Convict Lumberyard in Newcastle and the Croudace estate land resumed in 1947 in Lake Macquarie.

All public domain lands whether state or council owned should be governed by a statutory plan of management and not available for sale or disposal except as required by the plan.. Currently only Council owned land is required to be controlled by a POM under the LG Act 1993 and cannot be sold. All parkland whether developed as park or undeveloped, should be clearly identified on the LEP. Councils have resisted this because they are reluctant to make it easy for the community recognise Community Land. Too many parks are being reclassified to Operational land for sale or to escape the requirements of a management plan. Very important public parklands currently under pressure are the Crown Land former Newcastle Bowling Club and the Council owned Valentine Bowling Club land at Croudace Bay Park.

There are many other alienations threatening such as the mooted removal of Charlestown’s parklands for the extension of the Charlestown Square carparks and Shopping area to the south over the bowling Club and Ferris Oval. We will continue to advocate that Community classified lands be clearly marked on the LEP maps so that the local community can understand what is happening to their parkland.

Heritage is an important part of Development Assessment

Throughout the year we have made may submission to members of parliament and Councillors on issues including heritage matters such as need for archaeological investigation at Cottage Creek Honeysuckle Cemetery and the Heritage Order over Merewether Surf Pavilion, which is the last surviving public building from era of the Merewether Municipal Council. A public campaign must be started to ensure this significant building is restored. We wrote to each of the Newcastle Councillors on many occasions on the need for council to give appropriate weight to heritage issues when assessing development. We objected to the threatened loss of a distinctive Curry St residence in Merewether and promoted the possibility of restoring it with its former distinctive turret spire in the new development.

Thanks to supporters

Brian Purdue, Helen Smith and David Griffin have been a tower of strength to the Movement: Brian in his work on the Tank Paddock & Biodiversity Corridor and David on heritage research. Helen’s work as Secretary has been especially appreciated and I want to thank all committee members for the help and support. Greg Wright must be given a special thank you for his longstanding work as the Movement’s Secretary. His continuing work on the Belmont Lagoon also must not go unheralded.

Members have continued with the work at Green Point, the Fernleigh Track and objected to the Belmont sand extraction extensions.

The Parks and Playgrounds Movement has been a significant player in the voluntary conservation movement for fifty-one years and it is my pleasure to move the adoption of the fifty-first annual report of the Parks and Playgrounds Movement.

Doug Lithgow