Bondi Pavilion plans: Michael Caton leads ‘Darryl and Goliath’ fight against redevelopment

ACTOR Michael Caton fought for justice as Darryl Kerrigan and now he’s taking on Waverley Council in a real-life ‘Darryl and Goliath’ fight over the community castle that is Bondi Pavilion.

AS DARRYL Kerrigan, he managed to stop the government building an airport expansion on the site of his ­beloved family home.

Now The Castle star Michael Caton has joined fellow Bondi celebrities including Dave Faulkner from The Hoodoo Gurus, Mental As Anything’s Pete O’Doherty and Mambo artist Reg Mombassa to fight a similar “Darryl and Goliath” battle.

The group is fighting to stop one of Sydney’s richest councils from booting out community groups from the Bondi Pavilion as part of a planned $38 million upgrade.

Actor Michael Caton is taking on the bureaucrats again.

Long regarded by Waverley Council as “underused”, the council is ­embarking on a major overhaul of the beachfront building, with plans for a potential restaurant or cafe.

However, local community groups claim the council is rushing the project with no guarantees the same space will be left for the dance, music, karate and other community classes that take place in the building each day.

With its million dollar views the pavilion is a prime piece of real estate guaranteed to become a revenue generator should it be leased to a restaurant or other private operator.

The concept plans for the pavilion show a revamped front entrance, gardens filled with rows of palm trees and a lap pool filled with water lilies.

The theatre would be relocated, with the council in discussions over whether to use some of the space for a cafe, restaurant or “function rooms”.

The community groups that use the pavilion are required to apply yearly to lease space at around $45 per hour.

And as Darryl Kerrigan with Anne Tenney in 1997 film The Castle.

One community spokesman, who asked to remain anonymous, said the council had failed to give tenants any guarantees the same volume of space would be available for lease in the newly upgraded building: “There are hundreds of kids and adults that attend classes from baby ballet to karate and salsa dancing.’’

Mr Caton, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, said the pavilion was in need of an upgrade but the proposal was “over-the-top”. He said a better use for the pavilion would have been to use some of the space for an exhibition hall, ­depicting the history of Bondi.

Mr Faulkner said the pavilion was Bondi’s unofficial “town hall”.

An artists impressions of the proposed changes to Bondi Pavilion.

“It’s an important gathering place that needs to be kept for the people, not for commercial use,” he said.

NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon said secrecy surrounding the plans, only released late last year, was fuelling speculation the majority of the pavilion would be privatised.

“Developers would love to get their hands on Bondi Pavilion so when Mayor Betts fails to guarantee current community cultural activities will be retained it fuels concerns privatisation by stealth is the agenda,” she said.

An artists impressions of the proposed changes to Bondi Pavilion.