$150,000 Park Opens in Birmingham Gardens

BY SHY-ANN ARKINSTALL

Newcastle Lord Mayor, Nuatali Nelmes attended the opening of a new playground at Harold Myers Park in Birmingham Gardens today.

The new park cost $150,000 and features new walking paths and all new playground equipment, with more seating and shade set to be added in the future.

The playground is part of City of Newcastle's $750,000 investment into five new parks being opened this year across the city.

Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes says the opening events for new parks are important celebrations to bring the community together, particularly during school holidays.

Nelmes says its important for the council to "invest in quality facilities in our western suburbs" and create spaces for local families.

The council has invested $9.5 million in playgrounds over the past five years, with Newcastle now boasting 134 local playgrounds.

In addition to the investment in playgrounds currently being built, a $10 million, fully accessible playground is now in the planning stage and is set to be built at Foreshore Park.

"I'm really proud to be a part of a council that unanimously supports the investment into our city and suburbs," Nelmes said.

Relaxed Liquor Law Trial Potentially Extended, Residents Concerned about Flow On Effects

BY SAMUEL BARTLETT

Newcastle Council has voted to support a trial of relaxed liquor laws across in the city, kicking off in twenty-seven small bars and restaurants on October 1st.

The trial will allow restaurants to stay open and serve drinks until midnight and small bars until 2am.

The trial was set to run from October to April, but at last nights Council meeting, Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes flagged extending the trial for an extra 6 months. 

Venues taking part in the Newcastle After Dark strategy include Coal and Cedar, Basement on Market and Big Poppy's as well as iconic restaurants Scratchley's, the Edwards, Three Bears Kitchen and Signal Box.

Proprietor of Scratchley's restuarant and Battlesticks Bar, Neil Slater says the trial could lead to the revitalisation of the City's life after dark and believes Newcastle is ready for the trial despite its violent past.

"Under the new trial we'll be able to sell a nip of a fine scotch or cognac, or a cocktail up until 2am. The trial will allow for a more sophisticated Newcastle that has matured and is ready to take our place as one of the great cities of Australia."

"The whole idea is to gauge whether the city has changed. We have to have a look at whether what happened 12 years ago is indeed how we are now. I'd like to suggest that things have changed considerably."

Newcastle Council will also elect an independent inner-city resident to sit on the Committee for Night Time Jobs and Investment, however lockout laws advocate Tony Brown says the community has been left out of the process.

He says residents had no say in the extension of the trial from 6 to 12 months and fears the trial will flow onto larger inner-city pubs and clubs.

"We're concerned the outcome of the trial will be used as a precedent for pubs and clubs and the AHA (Australian Hotel Association) to demand an increase in their conditions."

"What Council doesn't realise is weakening controls for smaller bar and restaurants, will ultimately flow on to the higher risk, late trading, violent pubs and clubs."

"What the community is seeking is a iron clad guarantee that they will not rely on the outcomes of this trial to allow the bigger pubs and clubs to break down life saving Newcastle conditions."

Mr Brown also says small venues already have the ability to vary their licensing conditions and the trial is bypassing correct process.

Newcastle Council maintains they have been in collaboration with  Liquor and Gaming NSW, the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, Newcastle Tourism Industry Group and the NSW Police to facilitate the relaxation.

Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes (left) with Coal and Cedar's Ryan Hawthorne (middle) and Scratchley's Neil Slater (right)

                             

Metropolitan or Regional? Classification Confusion Shuts Newcastle Out Of $170 Million in Funding

BY SAMUEL BARTLETT

Newcastle City Local Government Area has reportedly missed out on more than $170 million in government grants in one year alone due to confusion surrounding the city’s regional or metropolitan status.

According to an independent report from the Hunter Research Foundation Centre, Newcastle was deemed ineligible for six regional funding sources worth more almost 6 billion dollars with no metropolitan alternative.

“For comparison, neighbouring equivalent sized councils in the Lake Macquarie and Central Coast LGAs were eligible for all six funding sources,” Lord Mayor Cr Nuatali Nelmes says.

"We are not receiving fair access to State Government funding. Newcastle is ineligible to access the Regional Cultural Fund, as it is defined as ‘metropolitan’, but there is no equivalent opportunity within metropolitan funding rounds." 

The lord Mayor says the City often falls between the gaps of policy development and grant funding as Newcastle is a metropolitan centre that services regional populations across the Hunter.

Despite Newcastle being a major economic hub of the Hunter region with gross regional product of $17.7 billion, the LGA received just 0.06 per cent of Restart NSW funds allocated to date, well below its 2.11 per cent share of the state’s population and its three per cent share of Gross State Product.

“Newcastle is effectively shut out of all NSW cultural infrastructure grants.”

“In partnership with Wollongong and Geelong, City of Newcastle has established a Gateway Cities Alliance to advocate and collectively explore economic opportunities.”

It's hoped these changes could help underpin regional growth and improve the efficiency of grant programs.

Newcastle Council Plants Hundreds of New Trees, Children Encouraged to Write Love Letter to Favourite One

BY ISABEL EVERETT

Hundreds of trees have been planted along local streets as part of Newcastle Council's Living Streets Program to expand the City’s urban forest.

The Council has been capitalising on Autumn rains, digging holes on street verges and reserves for around 500 trees - 40 different species - across Wallsend, Adamstown and Adamstown Heights ( full list of streets). 

Around 1,000 street trees will be planted this year as part of the City’s commitment to deliver cleaner air, reduced storm water runoff, habitat for local biodiversity, more shade and a cooler urban environment. 

Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes, who joined City staff to plant trees along Tyrrell Street Wallsend today, said autumn offered the perfect weather for new plantings and that today’s work followed a council decision to join a global initiative aimed at enhancing nature in and around cities.

“While most community requests for tree plantings come during Summer when we are all feeling the need for more trees, Summer isn’t the ideal time to plant and establish trees,” Councillor Nelmes said.

“The weather conditions are more favorable at this time of year as it’s cooler and more rain is about."

“We know a five per cent increase can reduce summer temperatures by one to two degrees, and that 17 trees will offset the use of one car a year in terms of carbon emissions."

Council’s City Greening Services team will complete regular maintenance of the new trees, among 6,000 recently planted across the local government area, carrying out mulching, weeding, watering and formative pruning.

The City is running a series of education activities in conjunction with tree planting, encouraging children during the COVID-19 lockdown to observe animals that visit their favourite tree and write a love letter to it.

Ward 4 Councillor Jason Dunn said kids were invited to submit a letter and photo of the tree to naturalconnection@ncc.nsw.gov.au to encourage conservatory thinking and see which trees are the most popular across the local government area.

“We want kids to take a moment to visit their favourite tree and stop, watch and listen and then write to us about how many different animals visit the tree, how long they think it’s been here and what could be lost if it was cut down," Councillor Dunn said. 

“As well as planting trees, we want to educate the next generation about how native and non-native trees support a huge amount of life in urban environments."

Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes and Cr Jason Dunn on Tyrrell Street

Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes and in Cr Jason Dunn on Tyrrell Street

Newcastle City Council to Fund Ocean Baths Restoration

BY SAMANTHA COOKE

City of Newcastle has agreed to fully fund the restoration projects for the Newcastle and Merewether Ocean Baths, following an unsuccessful attempt to gain viable private investors during an Expression of Interest.

Ninety-eight years after first being built, construction is anticipated to commence early 2021, with no completion date set yet.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the lack of interest from private investors came as no surprise to Council with copious restrictions on the land.

"It's a very constrained site and we had a lot of conditions around public access, free entry and the protection of the heritage facade," Ms Nelmes said.

"The crown land legislation that governs that site has actually limited the lease time available. So, the type of investment needed was always going to make it very difficult for any private investment to stack up on that site."

Going forward into the drafting stage, City of Newcastle will continue to hold public surveys of visitors and users at the baths until the end of February while initial planning continues.

Here, they'll gather valuable information about the structure condition, the level of rectification required and public expectations to help guide the design.

A community reference group will also be formed in February to help lead the restoration efforts, giving voices to a diverse range of residents, local businesses, and user groups.

With already a large amount of involvement from the public through surveys and Facebook, the feedback will be reviewed in aims to make restoration successful and sustainable.

"Over the last couple of months of community engagement, the themes are obviously the protection of the heritage on the site, the upgrade of the change room facilities, the upgrade of the cafe kiosk facilities, as well as request for shade, seating, yoga rooms and things like that," Ms Nelmes said.

"We also need to take in consideration sea level rise, climate change, inundation... So, it is obviously a beautiful, iconic site but it has a lot of constraints and it's also going to be exceptionally labor intensive and cost intensive to do those upgrades in a sympathetic way."

Coming up to the centenary, there have been suggestions to do a grand opening on the 100th birthday of the baths however, with the quantity of work needed, Ms Nelmes believes it may take a little longer to re-open.

"I think it would be amazing but maybe slightly optimistic. The work that is required is in the tens of millions of dollars but it's not impossible, but we do need to make sure we are doing the right work. A lot of that is actually going through this consultation process, making sure there is broad engagement and then support after the final concept and the designs that will go in there.

The Lord Mayor ensured development would follow strict heritage guidelines with a range of experts to be involved.

"We will be talking to architects with heritage expertise, as well as again talking to the community later in the year around any proposed concepts."

       Current Facade of the Newcastle Ocean Baths
        Image Credit: ABC News

Five-megawatt Solar Farm and Resource Recovery Center opens at Summer Hill

BY ISABEL EVERETT

An $8 million dollar, five-megawatt solar farm and $6 million dollar resource recovery center has opened at Summer Hill Waste Management center.

The solar farm spans the length of 5 football fields, sitting on a previous land fill site, and is expected to save rate payers around $9 million dollars over its 25-year life span. 

The farm will produce enough energy to power the equivalent of 1,300 households, significantly cutting councils electricity costs. 

"Its an impressive site to see whats on the surface, but to also understand that this is on a prior landfill site that wasn't capable of any agricultural purpose, so to give it such a good environmental purpose is really clever," Port Stephens MP and Shadow Minister for the Environment Kate Washington said. 

A recent purchase-power agreement to source electricity from the state's largest wind farm, moves Newcastle city council to become the first local government in NSW to move to 100 percent renewable's as of next year. 

"Newcastle city council is the first council to have created and built a solar farm and as of January first, all of councils operations will be sourced from renewable energy and that's a remarkable outcome," Kate Washington said.  

Newcastle residents can drop off pre-sorted recyclables such as scrap metals, sorted yellow bin recyclables, paper and cardboard, clean untreated wood and soft plastic at the Resource Recovery Center free of charge, diverting around 5,700 tonnes of waste from landfill each year. 

"Newcastle city council is doing exactly what we need to see happening, they are giving people the opportunity to be more environmentally conscious," Kate Washington said. 

"Communities across the state are already there, they want to know what they can do to achieve better environmental outcomes, to reduce land fill and improve our sustainability." 

State MP for Port Stephens Kate Washington, Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes and Cr Peta Winney-Baartz 

State MP for Port Stephens Kate Washington, City of Newcastle Business Development Manager Mark Johnson,Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes, Hon Taylor Martin MLC and Cr Peta Winney-Baartz 

Calls To Reinstate Hunter Minister Portfolio

BY IAN CROUCH

Newcastle Council will write to Premier Gladys Berejiklian urging her to reinstate the portfolio of Minister for the Hunter.

Councillors approved the measure after a Lord Mayoral minute expressing disappointment at the decision to abolish the role of Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter following last month's election.

Gladys Berejiklian was the last Minister for the Hunter before the position was scrapped in 2015.

Lord Mayor, Nuatali Nelmes believes the region needs a dedicated minister in cabinet to ensure there's local representation in decision making.

Gladys Berejikian during her first visit to Newcastle as Minister for the Hunter in April 2014 Picture: therherald.com.au