Woollahra Council asking Crown Land to transfer the lease of Trumper Park

Woollahra Council has been asking Crown Lands for years to transfer the lease of a Trumper Park lot to them and are seeking legal advice to determine if state government met consultation requirements before granting it to hot shot banker Jon Adgemis.

Woollahra Councillor Harriet Price, Friends of Trumper Park President Melinda Hatton and State member Sydney Alex Greenwich, at the site of Paddington Bowling Cub adjacent to Trumper Park. Picture: John Appleyard

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WOOLLAHRA Council is seeking legal advice to determine if the NSW government met consultation requirements before granting the lease of part of Trumper Park to banker Jon Adgemis. In an escalation of the feud over the site, it has emerged Woollahra Council has been asking Crown Lands for years to transfer the 50 year lease of the Paddington land. The terms of the lease state the land must be used for recreation.

Despite nurturing ideas which include creating another community garden or converting the site to parklands, council was only told about the decision to transfer the lease after it was awarded to Mr Adgemis.

The high-profile Mr Adgemis, who dated model Cheyenne Tozzi and sold a home in Rose Bay in August for $4.3 million, has not made any application to change the permissible use of the site but residents group Friends of Trumper Park fear plans include development. Group president Melinda Hayton said the fate of the site, which housed the now defunct Paddington Bowling Club, lacked “openness and transparency”.

“We’re totally in favour of Woollahra Council taking it over and why they were completely ignored is beyond us,” Ms Hayton said.

Residents First Councillor Harriet Price put Questions on Notice about Trumper Park before last week’s council meeting.

Woollahra Public School holding a Father's Day Match Day at Trumper Oval in Paddington, with kids soccer teams playing, handball competition and other activities. Picture: AAP Image / Bob Barker

Director of Technical Services Tom O’Hanlon said although the Crown Lands Management Act required Minister Paul Toole to consult when a new lease is granted it is “unclear” in the case of a transfer hence the need for legal advice.

Cr Price said with public open space in such short supply in the east the decision was baffling. “Council has expressly said and has been saying for a number of years, ‘Hello we’re here, we’re interested’. It doesn’t make sense a developer would want to keep it for community use.”

Members of the Friends of Trumper Park looking onto the greens of Paddington Bowling club. The group would like the club land to be rezoned as public recreation so it can once again be part of Trumper Park for the enjoyment of the community. Picture: John Appleyard

Mr Adgemis said he was considering a “range of options for the site”.

“This is being done in a manner that is fully cognisant of the provisions of the Crown lease,” he said.

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State MP Alex Greenwich has also put questions to Mr Toole in parliament on the issue. The Minister told Wentworth Courier: “Permissible uses for the site did not change when the lease was transferred.”