Report now available from the Public Hearing ‐ Held 19 December 2016

Under section 35 of the Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act), public land classified as

community land is required to be used and managed in accordance with a Plan of Management.

An important function of Plans of Management is to designate the category of that community

land. The designated category is a key overall identifier of future use and management of that

community land.

Blue Mountains City Council (Council) is in the processing of preparing a Plan of Management

(PoM) for the area of community land known as Glenbrook Park. The Park is located on the

Great Western Highway and comprises five parcels of land and totals some 3.89ha (Figure 1).

Only one of these parcels falls under the direct ownership of Council (the School of Arts site is

Lot 1 in DP 665140 and is some 1745m2 in area). The rest of Glenbrook Park is Crown Land but

Council is responsible for its management as Trustee.

Where a draft PoM would have the effect of categorising or altering the category of community

land, it is a requirement of section 40A(1) of the LG Act that a public hearing be held in respect

of the proposed PoM. Section 47G(2) of the LG Act provides that for public hearings of this

kind

The person presiding at a public hearing must not be:

a) a councillor or employee of the council holding the public hearing, or

b) a person who has been a councillor or employee of that council at any time

during the 5 years before the date of his or her appointment.

In accordance with the above provisions Peter Walsh FPIA PhD was appointed to preside over the hearing into the draft PoM for Glenbrook Park, and prepare a report on this hearing for Council’s consideration. The hearing was held on the evening of Monday 19 December 2016 at Glenbrook School of Arts, and around 30 members of the public attended, with twelve making formal submissions to the

hearing. This document is intended to comprise the hearing report.

The report is available for download to the right.