COMMUNITY groups, including the Friends of King Edward Park, are joining forces to press the state government on Crown Land reforms, amid uncertainty about how it will respond to a court’s rejection of a function centre proposed for the Newcastle headland.
The Land and Environment Court decision declared invalid the Stronach Group’s function centre plans for the King Edward Headland, finding it inconsistent with the reservation of the site for public recreation.
The ruling has given hope to community groups fighting proposals for other Crown land sites, such as parks and reserves, but was criticised by developer Keith Stronach as another win for the ‘‘naysayers’’ of Newcastle.
Six weeks later, the government says it is still considering the decision and options for the site, amid concerns it will be left vacant indefinitely.
There is also wider uncertainty about the government’s commitment to overhauling Crown land management and long-standing laws.
Groups from Newcastle, parts of Sydney and Wollongong, along with the Nature Conservation Council and Better Planning Network, met with MPs at Parliament on Wednesday night.
Labor’s lands spokesman Mick Veitch said communities ‘‘feel they’ve been excluded from the management of Crown lands’’ as well as left out of the process.
He said the silence from Lands minister Niall Blair on where the review was up to ‘‘is not helping anyone’’ when communities needed certainty about if and when changes would be made.
Greens MP David Shoebridge said a common observation among groups was that important notices about changes affecting Crown land sites were typically published ‘‘only days before the Christmas period’’, which created scepticism.
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Participants agreed to form a network, and to push for a parliamentary inquiry into the governance of Crown land and moratorium on the ‘‘selling, leasing and private development’’ of such sites.
A spokeswoman for Mr Blair said the government had completed the review of Crown land management.
It was examining recommendations ‘‘in detail’’, including ‘‘proposals to retain strategic land in state ownership and devolve local Crown land to local government or other suitable community-based bodies’’.
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