A PETITION has been launched calling for an historic Newcastle rail site to be saved, as a state government agency says the location has potential for new housing.
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Transport for NSW lodged a development application with City of Newcastle late last year to split the former locomotive depot at Broadmeadow, behind the Hunter School of Performing Arts, in two.
The application was lodged on behalf of the state's Transport Asset Holding Entity.
TAHE chief executive officer Benedicte Colin said in a statement to the Newcastle Herald on Friday the Cameron Street site was one of several being considered for "precinct revitalisation".
"This site has the potential to significantly benefit the local community by providing much needed diverse and affordable housing as well as delivering new public spaces which celebrate our rail heritage," she said.
An online petition has been set up at change.org by a group of people concerned about the land's future.
The Herald understands the subdivision currently before the council would separate the active part of the rail corridor from the inactive section.
The site contains a heritage-listed railway precinct and was once the second-biggest rail depot in NSW.
It has been largely abandoned since 1994.
Emeritus Professor Tim Roberts, a spokesperson for the group behind the petition, told the Herald the former depot should be preserved as a community park and heritage education space.
"The open lands at the back of the roundhouses is a flood zone so it would be sheer folly to put high density low cost housing there," he said.
"The adjoining houses along Kings Road also experience flooding.
"We believe that the Hunter stands to lose a major part of its industrial history as the site is unique nationally and internationally. It goes back to Newcastle's and Australia's first railway in 1831.
"Looking to the future, Newcastle stands to lose the opportunity to develop a major tourist attraction in the heart of the city.
"Dr Bernie Curran AM worked on this project until his untimely passing. He believed that this site would be one of national and international standing, the same as Ironbridge in the UK, and Age Of Steam Roundhouse in Ohio in the US."
The Herald reported last December that the historic 16-hectare Goninan train factory, on the other side of Broadmeadow, would make way for a new housing and hotel precinct under plans being discussed by the government and council.
Emeritus Professor Roberts said on Friday the former depot at Cameron Street "could be the jewel in the crown of the Newcastle region".
"To squander this opportunity for the growing population of this area, we will be poorer for the loss," he said.
"We must have control of our destiny - not a rubber stamp for Sydney's outcomes where the Newcastle people are left out of their planning and future."
According to an email seen by the Herald, the National Trust of Australia (NSW) plans to discuss the former Broadmeadow rail depot at its next industrial heritage meeting in February.
State Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp raised concerns about the site in NSW Parliament just before Christmas, asking for clarification why a conservation management plan had not been endorsed, and calling for the minister to intervene.
A letter from City of Newcastle to nearby residents last November noted the plan was classified as an "integrated development" and would require approval from Heritage NSW as well as the council.
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