Month: March 2019

City of Newcastle will build the city’s first fenced dog park where owners can legally let their dogs roam free inside their very own playground.
The 1.5-hectare fenced area will be built at Acacia Avenue reserve, North Lambton, as part of the City’s Dogs in Open Space Plan. The plan was adopted by council last night to cater for the 44,300 registered dogs in the Newcastle local government area.

The project will provide separate areas for big and little pooches and include additional natural shade, shelter and seating for owners, plus drinking water for their four-legged friends.
Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the plan would guide the provision, improvement and management of off-leash parks across Newcastle over the next 10 years.
“Novocastrians absolutely love their dogs, with more than 50 per cent of households across the City owning at least one pooch,” Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
“This places us at the top-end of the list in terms of dog ownership across the country, so I’m delighted that this long-term plan has been adopted to cater for what is certainly a growing community need.
“Dogs are becoming an increasingly popular addition to the family household, so it was no surprise that many submissions to the draft plan provided positive feedback around the provision of more fenced parks and increased off-leash areas.”
^{A snapshot of what’s proposed in the 10-year Dogs in Open Space Plan} 
Merewether’s Jane Garrick, a long-time supporter of fenced dog parks in Newcastle, is the doting owner of five-year-old Evee, a Ridgeback-Kelpie crossbreed.
Ms Garrick said she was elated to hear that she’ll be able to take Evee across town to Lambton rather than drive the longer journey to Speers Point.
“We take her to Speers Point where there’s a fenced park and this works really well for her,” she said.
“I’ll definitely take the trip to Lambton for future visits but ideally I’d still love something a bit closer where I can walk her to and from home.”
Ms Garrick said fenced parks where perfect for keeping Evee from straying on to nearby roads.
“She’s easily distracted by birds and cats and often won’t listen or come back when she’s called.”
Based on the likely success of the new fenced park at Acacia Avenue, the City will explore other possible sites at Lambton Park, O’Connell Reserve, Carrington Foreshore, Maryland Drive Reserve and Stevenson Park.
Where size permits we will aim to provide separate small and large dog parks and dedicated quiet zones for temperamental breeds.
For more information and to view the full plan, visit http://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/Living/Residents/pets-and-animals/Dogs

A man has died after being struck by a truck near Maitland.
About 2pm today (Wednesday 27 March 2019), emergency services were called to the Hunter Expressway at Buchanan after a 58-year-old man was struck by a semi-trailer.
He died at the scene.
Officers from Hunter Valley Police District established a crime scene and commenced inquiries.
The truck driver, a 42-year-old man, was taken to Maitland Hospital for mandatory blood and urine testing.
A report will be prepared for the Coroner and inquiries continue.

City of Newcastle will fund the operation of Park and Ride for the next month in response to Transport for NSW’s (TfNSW) refusal to publicly indicate whether it will continue to support the popular bus service beyond the end of this week.
CEO Jeremy Bath said the City’s commitment meant the service would continue from McDonald Jones Stadium to the CBD during April while a detailed examination of the cost of the service is undertaken.
“City of Newcastle will underwrite the Park and Ride for the month of April,” Mr Bath said.
“In a city that has traditionally refused to use public transport, the Park and Ride has proved Novocastrians will catch a bus to work when the service is affordable and reliable.
“More than 41,000 people have used the Park and Ride since it started in November 2017 in response to the impact of the construction of the NSW Government’s light rail project.
“While public transport is very clearly a responsibility of the NSW Government, we owe it to the almost 1,000 passengers that use the Park and Ride weekly to do everything we can to continue the service.
“Over the next four weeks we’ll undertake a detailed analysis of the costs of the Park and Ride operation. This will include speaking with bus operators, including Keolis Downer, to establish the true cost of running the Park and Ride service under a variety of hours of operation.
“We will also speak with users of the service to understand their needs vs their wants when it comes to public transport.
“During April, there will be no change to the current service with buses to operate weekdays from 7am to 9am from McDonald Jones Stadium and departing from the city to Broadmeadow between 3pm and 6.30pm.”
Mr Bath said that under the current model, he understood that the Park and Ride operates at a cost of approximately $500,000 a year.
He said the City would look at how to reduce the cost of operating the service, which for its first 16 months has been funded by the NSW Government.
“For the Park and Ride to continue the price will have to rise. The price of the service hasn’t increased since it was launched and that was done to encourage car enthusiasts to try public transport, often for the first time.
“However, if the City is going to bear the cost of the Park and Ride then we will need to re-examine the pricing model. But that decision can’t be made until we understand the true cost of operating the service as well as people’s willingness to pay for an express bus to the city and back.
“TfNSW’s refusal to confirm whether they will continue to fund the Park and Ride has created angst and frustration for its users. I have written to the 5,000 people registered with the Park and Ride today asking them for patience as we commence a review of the costs of the operation.”
Mr Bath said TfNSW was still yet to formally advise the City of its decision to withdraw funding for the service, almost a week after their agreed deadline.
“To date, we’ve heard nothing from TfNSW other than a promise more than a week ago to provide a decision by last Friday,” he said.
“This is despite four months of regular discussions in which we we were led to believe the Park and Ride would continue to be funded by the NSW Government.
“City of Newcastle is firmly of the opinion that it makes no sense to shut off funding to a public transport service that is incredibly popular, especially one that is a key promise in TfNSW’s own future transport plans,” he said.
Park and Ride users are reminded that the service will not operate Friday 29 March due to the Super Rugby match at McDonald Jones Stadium between the Waratahs and Sunwolves.
It will return to regular service from Monday 1 April 2019.

Business Improvement Association (BIA) Newcastle Now has been issued a ‘please explain’ over a $1.1 million discrepancy relating to employee expenses.  This follows a review of financial figures  provided by Newcastle Now as part of a City of Newcastle review of BIAs and their operations.
On 12 March, Newcastle Now submitted a breakdown of its expenses for the past three years, listing expenditure on wages of $244,949. Newcastle Now’s audited annual reports for the same three years (15/16, 16/17, 17/18) indicate it spent $1,384,488.95 on employee expenses. Each annual report stipulates that project expenses were separate to these employee expenses.
City of Newcastle had requested an itemised breakdown of expenses for the past three years from all BIAs: Newcastle, Hamilton, Wallsend and Mayfield. The request for information will form part of a draft report by AECOM which will be shared with BIAs next month.
The report will include a recommendation on how much of the $1,430,000 paid annually by select commercial property owners should be passed on to BIAs for promotion of their respective business areas. In December last year, Council resolved that a portion of these funds should be withheld from the BIAs and instead made available to the community via a contestable process to generate additional events and projects.
City of Newcastle CEO Jeremy Bath said Newcastle Now’s breakdown of its expenses requires further explanation given the $1.1 million discrepancy between what the BIA has submitted to the AECOM review and their audited financial statements.
“Newcastle Now’s audited annual reports confirm it spent almost $1.4 million on wages in the past three years and a further $287,799.70 on administration expenses.
“Until I terminated its funding on 31 December last year, Newcastle Now was spending 56 per cent of its annual income on employee and administration expenses. This is money that ratepayers expect would be spent promoting the CBD.
“Trying to get accurate financial data has proved extremely difficult. Newcastle Now, along with BIAs in Hamilton, Mayfield and Lambton, wrote to me last month requesting additional time to provide a breakdown of their expenses during the past three years. I refused this request on the basis that BIAs were given two weeks to provide this information, which is more than enough time to detail how they had been spending ratepayers’ funds.
“It’s worth noting that the Wallsend BIA didn’t request additional time and in fact provided the required information in just a week. Ultimately, Hamilton and Mayfield submitted documents before the deadline, and Newcastle Now six days after the deadline.
“Newcastle Now’s financial explanation is concerning. Unless they can reasonably account for the $1.1 million discrepancy in their employee costs, my recommendation to Council will be that a new agreement shouldn’t be offered to Newcastle Now for the new financial year.
“It appears City of Newcastle and Newcastle Now remain a long way apart in terms of how they should be investing ratepayer funds in the CBD. The past 12 months were the most challenging faced by many traders in the Newcastle CBD due to the light rail construction. In a year when Newcastle Now should have been investing every last cent into promoting and activating the CBD, we now know that they instead spent more than half a million dollars on employee and administration costs.
“AECOM’s draft report will be released on 9 April. Council will then consider at its meeting on 16 April whether to place the report on public exhibition for 28 days with a final report coming back to the Council in late May.
“The report will recommend how the special rate funds should be split between the BIA and other groups interested in providing events and projects that promote, market or beautify the business areas of Newcastle, Hamilton, Wallsend and Mayfield.
“The report also recommends that administration and governance for all four BIAs could be undertaken by a shared resource, independent of City of Newcastle, for economies of scale.”

A man will appear in court tomorrow after being charged with assaulting, choking and detaining a woman at Newcastle last week, during a domestic altercation.
About 11am on Friday 22 March 2019, a 42-year-old man attended a home at Hamilton East where he was allowed entry by the 43-year-old female occupant.
During a conversation the man allegedly grabbed the woman around the throat from behind, until she fell to the ground.
After standing on the woman’s chest and neck, the man punched her in the face, and threatened her.
The man then armed himself with a hammer and forced the woman to travel with him to his home at Bolton Point.
The man allegedly took the woman’s phone and held her against her will.
After several hours the man returned the woman to her home, but allegedly kept her home and car keys.
The woman contacted friends, and police from the Northern Region Domestic Violence High Risk Offender Team were notified and commenced their inquiries.
About 2.50pm today (Tuesday 26 March 2019), investigators arrested the 42-year-old man at Bunkerville without incident.
The man was conveyed to Newcastle Police Station where he was charged with detain for advantage (DV), intentionally choke person without consent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and stalking/intimidation.
He was refused bail to appear at Newcastle Local Court tomorrow (Wednesday 27 March 2019).