DA Fail-Newcastle

29/08/2025

LLEWELLYN STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY
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28 Aug
LLEWELLYN STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY UPDATE
The conciliation conference before the Land and Environment Court last Thursday has been terminated. That means no agreement was able to be reached between the two parties. The matter is now listed before the Land and Environment Court on September 1 for further directions and possible listing of a hearing date.
We'll keep posted as any news comes to hand.

RECENT COMMUNICATION:

22 Aug
LLEWELLYN ST RIGHT-OF-WAY UPDATE
An outstanding turnout of hardy locals braved atrocious conditions for yesterday’s Land and Environment Court visitation at the Llewellyn Street, Merewether property. The size and enthusiasm of the crowd certainly indicated that community desire to have our public access reinstated is as strong as ever.

16 Aug
LLEWELLYN STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY UPDATE
Thankyou to everyone who has responded to the call to indicate your support by turning up for the Land and Environment hearing on Thursday (August 21).
Merewether Historical Society’s honorary solicitor Nick Dan will be taking part in the process and will be available to share a few thoughts with us beforehand.
To that end, please arrive by 10.15am and assemble adjacent to the Fire Station in Llewellyn St.
The community’s brief has been prepared by our legal team working pro bono and ably supported by the expertise of the town’s leading surveyor Rob Monteath. So, to support their efforts, make it a date, bring a neighbor and we’ll see you there 10.15am on Thursday.

6 Aug
Llewellyn Street Right-of-Carriageway
The campaign to recover our community asset approaches a critical point.
Later this month, a Land and Environment Commissioner will convene a conciliation conference on the Llewellyn St site.
Why?
1) Last year, the development’s proponent applied to Council to remove the right of carriageway by deleting the clause protecting its existence.
2) The application was refused by Council.
3) An appeal was lodged with Land and Environment (L&E).
4) L&E convened a conciliation conference.
By scheduling an on-site hearing, the process will take in the physical reality of what has happened to our pathway.
Although it’s likely the commissioner will not permit community members to be heard on the matter, nonetheless, we encourage you to attend to indicate your commitment to recovering our pathway.
So, please feel free to turn up and show your support.
When: 10.30am, Thursday August 21.
Where: On the footpath adjacent to the Merewether Fire Station, Llewellyn St.
Jot down the date in your diary, alert your neighbours and we’ll see you there.

Send a message to learn more

10/01/2025

IMMINENT REVIEW OF CITY OF NEWCASTLE COUNCIL

You may remember that shortly before Christmas, at the last meeting of Council, it was agreed to support an independent review of the City of Newcastle's performance, processes, procedures, and governance.

This was broadly based on one of my central commitments at the election. But of course, politics is messy. After a marathon debate, a compromise plan was unanimously supported. Councillors Callum Pull and Joel Pringle played a central role in the negotiations.

Council has now engaged Davidson Consulting to conduct the review. Davidson is a large national consulting group with extensive experience in local government work. I've had good discussions with the consultants, and I am reasonably confident that they will do their part of the job well.

The public will be invited to make confidential submissions, commencing next week. Note: The duration to accept submissions will not be long.

I am concerned that attention tends to be distracted during January. It is important for anyone with concerns they want to address to get them in to the review promptly. So, if you want to make a submission, or know someone who does, get working on it now!

I want to emphasise that this process is completely confidential. Neither members of the public nor staff will be named in reports, and names will not be reported through management channels. This is your opportunity to bring forward any issues affecting our community or council operations. I strongly encourage anyone with relevant information to come forward.

Formal advertising of the review will be in the media in the next few days. I will provide further details as soon as they become available. Additionally, I want to be clear that if at any point I lose faith in the investigation's integrity, I will call it out.

Please share this message widely – this is our chance to shed light on matters that may need attention in our community and council.