Call to the Minister to Stop Destruction of Merewether Surf House and Public Reserve

The Honourable Tony Kelly ALGA MLC

Minister for Planning and Minister for Lands
Minister for Infrastructure
Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council
Leader of the House in the Legislative Council


Dear Minister,

Stop destruction of Merewether Surf House and Public Reserve No. 56681

Parks and Playgrounds Movement urgently request that you call in all matters dealing with Merewether Surf House and Public Reserve No 56681 Newcastle.

The Newcastle City Council are Trustees for this public reserve and are proposing to destroy the Surf House building. This is an activity that should only be performed if there is a proper publicly available registered lease containing guarantees that the Crown Lands Act 1989 will be complied with and the Merewether family Deed of Transfer honoured.

As Minister for Planning and Minister for Lands we call upon you to consider the architectural and historic association of this property with the Merewether and Mitchell families who gave the land to the Council for public recreation.

The Trustees of the will of Edward Christopher Merewether transferred most of the Merewether beachfront to the Merewether Council in 1930 (Deed No 944 Book 1617). The Deed binds Council and its successors and assigns at all times to use and maintain the land as a public park or public reserve and not permit it to be used for any other purpose whatsoever.

As Minister for Lands you have held the title to this land as Public Reserve No. 56681 since it was transferred to you in September 2008 and would be aware of the Deed of Conveyance. As Minister for Planning your Heritage Branch will be able to inform you of the negotiations with the City Council and the required restoration of the Surf House building.

The Parks and Playgrounds Movement respectfully asks that you will call in this matter and allow the Government to assess this matter within the principles stated in Sec. 11 of the Crown Lands Act of 1989.



Yours faithfully,

Doug Lithgow
Freeman of the city of Newcastle
President of the Parks and Playgrounds Movement

Sailor’s Rock Pty Ltd does not have a lease of Surf House land at Merewether

A Title Search of Merewether Beachfront reveals that Sailor’s Rock Pty Ltd does not have a lease of land Lot 100 DP1130581 for the proposal in DA No: 08/1741.

You will recall that Newcastle Council in an effort to avoid responsibility for the restoration of the Surf House transferred the land to the Minister for Lands. The Movement is concerned that Council wrongly approved the development as a restoration/redevelopment of Surf House when clearly the proposal was an alienation of a Public Reserve dedicated for Public Recreation. Also the DA was inconsistent with the terms of the Deed of Conveyance of the land from the Merewether family.

The Trustees of the will of Edward Christopher Merewether transferred most of the Merewether beachfront to the Merewether Council in 1930 (Deed No 944 Book 1617). The Deed binds Council and its successors and assigns at all times to use and maintain the land as a public park or public reserve and not permit it to be used for any other purpose whatsoever.

The Minister for Lands now holds the title for this land as Public Reserve No. 56681 and is required to honour the Deed of Conveyance and consider the proper restoration of the Beach Pavilion.

The letter above was sent to all Councillors last weekend.

We had a FOI request into Council June 2008 but was not determined until 9 Nov 2009 (even then it was very much blanked out so much for transparency!)

However, we were able to establish that the Deed of Agreement between Sailors Rock P/t was signed by GM Lindy Hyam and Lord Mayor and Keith Stronach & Stan Panteleos in September 2008.

No lease had been registered up until last Wednesday therefore at this stage (last Wednesday) there is no Lease by any company or person.

The Transfer of the Merewether Land to the Minister was made by the Council on the 21 st August 2008 as a gift under Sec 134 of the Crown Lands Act 1989 under the signature of the GM and Lord Mayor.

On the 25th of September 2008 the Newcastle Council was made a Trustee of the gifted land. (Council was already the Trustee of the Baths area)

The Crown holds the Title and Council has been made Trustee for the public. So what was Community Land under the LG Act is now Crown Land and Plans of Management are no longer obligatory.

You must wonder what this is all about as we do.

Clearly Sailors Rock P/L has not taken up the Lease?

What Guarantees did Sailors Rock give to honour the Merewether Family Deed of Transfer to be offered a lease?

We hope that they were made because of the condition imposed by the Deed of Transfer from the Merewether Family in 1930. But we do not know.

The public interest has been left out of this matter since Newcastle Council began doing deals.

Enclosed is information about the building which is just a simple little building and could have been restored to its simple form donkey years ago.

Alienation of Public Land for sectional use has always been a problem in Public Park Management but has taken on a new drive by this Government.

Alienation of Public Parkland should be for a reasonable term 21 Years (No Bank would lend you funds for a commercial venture for such a long time).

Development in Public Reserves dedicated for Public Recreation must only be for uses that improve the public recreation and the test is, “what is the public access that is being served”?

The Merewether Beach Pavilion when it was in use was a public facility serving the recreational amenity of the beach area.

We are still waiting for answers?

Merewether covenant must be honoured

Parks and Playgrounds Movement believe that the Newcastle Council has dishonoured the legal covenant with the trustees of the will of Edward Christopher Merewether who gave most of the valuable Merewether beachfront property we now enjoy, to the Merewether Council in 1930. (Registered Deed No 944 Book 1617)

The covenant binds the Council and its successors and assigns at all times to use and maintain the land as a park or public reserve and not permit it to be used for any other purpose whatsoever.

Newcastle Council in its effort to avoid its responsibilities at Surf House transferred the land to the Minister for Lands as a consolidation of Land Title. It then encouraged and approved a commercial DA for the land which was clearly a denial of its responsibility under the covenant. Council claimed the development as restoration/redevelopment of Surf House when it was really alienation of a Public Reserve for private uses.

Parks and Playgrounds Movement endeavoured to reveal the truth by requesting freedom of information but our efforts were frustrated.

We call on the Newcastle Council and the Minister to honour the Merewether Covenant of 1930.

Doug Lithgow
President of the Parks and Playgrounds Movement
A Freeman of the City of Newcastle

National Park Newcastle

To the Councillors of Newcastle City Council 
and the residents and ratepayers of Newcastle

Dear Councillors in the first instance,

Newcastle Council needs clear Title to National Park Newcastle and the whole park must be Categorised as Park 36G as well as Sportsgrounds 36F.

It was brought to my notice that Councllors were concerned about Newcastle Council’s tenure of the land known as National Park.

I searched the Title yesterday, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 and I can report that Council does not hold a clear Torens Title of the land conveyed in the Indenture and possibly never will.

I don’t know what Council did last Tuesday night but I hope that they clearly resolved to obtain:

1. An accurate land survey of the area we now regard as National Park and apply for a clear title with the Council of the City of Newcastle as proprietor and to;

2. Crategorise the whole of the park as Park and catagorise the whole park as Sports ground to show good faith and clear responsibility for the park in the terms of the principal Indenture.

These things should have been done before the Council decided to enter into discussions about further leases and licences with anyone.

The land is Old System Title and is actually smaller than the area described and conveyed under conditional title in 1913. It has been alienated with encroachments since the original grant to the Council by the AA Company.

Council has however made an application for a Title to land at National Park on the 3/2/2009.

No doubt it will take some time to obtain clear title to the unincumbered land. The park needs a modern survey to identify the land and the encroachments. Agreement will need to be reached between the various parties that have an estate in the land before Title can be issued.

In the PPM response to the exhibition of the POM I referred to the conditional title of the land at National Park which was agreed and declared by the Council and the Company that the land would hensforth be used as a Public Park and Recreation Grounds. I also enclosed part of the original 1913 hand written Indenture which in legal terms is still the principle indenture..

The AA Company gifted many parcels of land to the former Newcastle, Hamilton and Waratah Municipal Councils but was unable to trust the Councillors to abide by the their agreements and declarations and therefor included provision within the indentures for the Company to reenter the lands if the Council should default.

On the 21/9/1972 The AA Company and the Council agreed and declared that the principal indentures could be varied to remove certain rights of reentry etc for the parks described in the various indentures. But the lands have never been accurately surveyed and clear title issued.

Sadly the area of land conveyed to the Council in 1913 was much larger than the actual area that is National Park today. 

National Park Newcastle Dedicated for Park and Recreation Grounds (2/5/1913) http://tiny.cc/DP986 

Yours Sincerely,

 Doug Lithgow

IS THE NEWCASTLE BEACHES COASTAL RESERVE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD?

Newcastle City Council Coastal Reserves 2008 - Coastal Lands Plan from Fern Bay to Glenrock Lagoon - http://tiny.cc/24lCp

SPC 02/12/2008 DRAFT NEWCASTLE BEACHES COASTAL RESERVE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING - http://tiny.cc/1iQT8

Attached is also the draft Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) relating to coastal lands and binds to some extent the Department of Lands, Hunter Surf Lifesaving Inc. and the Newcastle City Council to create a new type of reserve (see the Map included in MOU) that allows commercial development opportunities to fund infrastructure and provide security of tenure for commercial operators to assist Surf Clubs. (One of the parties to the MOU).

This document needs close legal scrutiny as it seems that it aims to bypass the Crown Land and Community land plan of management procedures in contravention of the dedication of the existing reserve status of the

lands affected.

Furthermore it seems to combine the parties in a clandestine way into activities that may be against the public good.

Is this being done across the State? Many people are concerned in Newcastle.

I have requested that the General Manager of Newcastle Council provide me with the date when Council dealt with this matter and the details of the Council Resolution authorising the expenditure. ($150,000 for the Management Plan)

The draft document is dated the 19 November 2008 and documents a Memorandum of Understanding between NSW DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, HUNTER SURF LIFESAVING INCORPORATED AND NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL

DOWNLOAD THE MOU HERE (1 MB PDF) Direct link here: http://tiny.cc/dMgIR

Doug Lithgow

President of the Parks and Playgrounds Movement Inc

Freeman of the City of Newcastle

Councillors
Newcastle City Council
City Hall Newcastle Friday, 08 January 2010

Dear Councillor
Bogey Hole & King Edward Park are part of one Land Parcel & are Heritage Items

Parks and Playgrounds Movement is pleased to note the excellent article by Cr John Tate Lord Mayor about the Bogey Hole and coast published in the Herald today 8/1/2010.

Cr Tate indicated that the Bogey Hole and the coast are owned by the Government and Council needs assistance in its management and that the Newcastle Council gave the Land & Property Management Authority $150,000 to prepare a land use plan.

Our coast is a scarce and priceless resource which is held in trust for the people of NSW. Elected Councillors and Members of Parliament as Trustees are expected to do all in their power to protect that scarce resource for the benefit of all people and tomorrow’s people.

In regard to the Bogey Hole it is an integral part of the existing King Edward Park Crown Land parcel. It was formerly part of the 87 acres of the 2000 acre Coal grant to the AA Company retained by the Crown in 1824. King Edward Park including the Bogey Hole was dedicated for Public Recreation in March 1894. The Park has an absolute water frontage and Newcastle Council has exercised care control and management for the whole area since dedication.

We are pleased that the collapsed cliff top fence is now being reinstated and we ask that the safety chain around the pool be also restored. Furthermore we request that rusted out picnic tables be replaced and the stairway to the pool be cleaned and drained at the side.

Parks and Playgrounds Movement believe that it is important that a clear working relationship be maintained between the Department of Lands (Now named NSW Land & Property Management Authority) and the Newcastle Council as in the past.

However we must point out that we are appalled and outraged that our Newcastle Council has allowed itself to be a silent party to a $300,000 dollar report aimed to alienate our scarce coastal lands and change their use against the interests of the public of Newcastle.

We also ask you to make public the details of the Newcastle fee simple land at Merewether that was transferred to the Minister for Lands by gift Aug 2008 in contravention of the covenant running with the land.

We Trust in your help to make sure that our distinctive coastal heritage is protected.
Yours sincerely.

Doug Lithgow Parks and Playgrounds Movement Inc