A member of the Glebe Heritage Preservation Group has questioned the Newcastle Anglican Diocese’s right to develop a historic paddock for housing.
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Maitland City Council considered the church’s application to change the land’s rural zoning to residential last night.
“The land was originally gifted to the Anglican Church, it could be assumed, in the spirit of benefiting the people of Maitland,” resident and member of the preservation group Nerryn Bennett said.
“Perhaps the morality of selling the land is something the community should question.”
But Bishop Peter Stuart said plans to develop the land were in the spirit of the original land grant.
“The gift of the land was to support ministry through the parish and we will look to continuing that,” he said.
“The primary purpose of the redevelopment is to support the ministry through St Peter’s East Maitland.”
Ms Bennett, who lives a block back from the development near the burial ground, said members did not object to the diocese owning the land, but disagreed with its plans.
“If they wanted to turn it into a garden or reserve, or create a function centre, it would be another matter,” she said.
The Diocese has helped preserve other key sites including St Peter’s Church on Williams Street and the Glebe Burial Ground (which adjoins the paddock) when it had the sites placed on the state heritage register last year.
Yesterday, Bishop Stuart declined to say whether the diocese planned to develop the land or sell it to a developer with the residential zoning in place.
He also declined to specify what the proceeds might be spent on.
“The majority of funds raised in a parish are devoted to work in that parish,” he said.