AT a time when the Hunter is clearly struggling to hold onto its rail heritage, an application from Transport NSW to subdivide a parcel of land at the Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot has raised the ire of nearby residents, and of railway enthusiasts who see the site as the solution to their problems.
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As we report today, documents lodged with the City of Newcastle show the application on behalf of the controversial Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE) would excise the broadly triangular site, shown above in yellow, from the main corridor land.
The historic and state-significant locomotive turntables sit between the two parcels.
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A statement of environmental effects lodged on behalf of TAHE says the subdivision - described as "the proposed development" - should go ahead because it accords with the relevant planning controls and will result in "no social, environmental or economic impacts".
That may well be the case, strictly speaking, for the subdivision itself, but it's what comes after that is of greater concern. TAHE confirmed yesterday that the land is being considered for "precinct revitalisation" - or, in other words, sale for housing.
No city prospers by standing still, and it's been decades, literally, since the depot site was operationally vital to the railways.
But while many millions of dollars have been lavished on the adaptive reuse of historic railway buildings in inner Sydney, far less affection has been lavished on the Hunter's rail history.
As we reported last year, one of the biggest rail history collections in the world is now homeless after losing a court case against the owners of the Huntlee development. At least some of those involved at Rothbury have been lobbying the state government to move their rolling stock to Broadmeadow.
Another proposal, championed by University of Newcastle identity the late Bernie Curran, envisaged the area as a place to commemorate the Hunter's rail, maritime and industrial heritage more broadly.
Whatever the fate of the state-significant locomotive buildings, the NSW government needs to bring the public into its trust.
If the government wants the depot land to be part of its broader Hunter Park project, it should say so. Lodging subdivision documents that carry very little indication of future use is not the way to go about it.
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