Gunnedah Shire Council said it made unsuccessful attempts to extend closure of the ‘tech paddock’ before the facility was handed back to the Department of Education last month.

The vacant land is owned by the department but was used for years by not-for-profit and community organisations in the Gunnedah Showground precinct. This included vehicle parking during show time in Gunnedah; an area for carriage driving for riding for disabled participants and as well as dressage and marshalling areas for horse sports.

Gunnedah council’s director infrastructure services Jeremy Bartlett said the most recent licence agreement with TAFE NSW for use of the ‘tech paddock’ was not due to expire until September 30 next year.

But in April this year, council received verbal notification from TAFE NSW that it intended to terminate council’s licence prior to its expiry date. TAFE NSW confirmed that the land was to be transferred to the Department of Education to enable the expansion of Gunnedah High School’s agricultural and primary industry curriculum.

Mr Bartlett said this information was passed onto the relevant user groups the following week while an extension was sought for continued use of the land,” he said.

“Council’s requests for the original term of the licence to be honoured or to share the space with the Department of Education into the future were unfortunately declined.

“Council received a formal letter of termination of licence from TAFE NSW on August 21, 2024, providing 90 days’ notice for council to vacate the land by November 20, 2024.

“On August 23, 2024, user groups were notified of the formal vacation date, and advised that they were welcome to continue to use/occupy the space up until Monday November 11, 2024. This would allow council a short window of time to ensure the land could be handed back in good order by the notified licence expiry date.

“Council has been in ongoing communication with the user groups since April when we were first notified that council’s licence would be terminated. User groups were encouraged to give thought to temporary solutions for their events and have been working in conjunction with council to determine what changes could occur to accommodate the loss of the space.

“Longer term solutions are being discussed as part of the Showground Master Plan process that is currently underway.”

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