Lot 7310 Upper Turon road Sofala

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Further to my earlier post, I also alerted Robert Brown (MLC, Shooters and Fishers Party and strong NAPFA supporter) about this and he in turn contacted the Office of the Minister for Crown Lands.

The latest advice to me is that the block won't be sold until its suitability for sale is further looked at, and any adjustments made to ensure uses can continue, or of course it might not be sold at all.

I was advised that it would be beneficial for concerned fossickers and others to write to the Department (rather than the Minister) and state the reasons for your objections and the uses that you feel would be prejudiced by the sale. The department has to then analyse those objections to determine how it proceeds. You can be sure they will be considering the number of objections.

That email address again is:
[email protected]

To be on the safe side also send it to:
[email protected]

Make sure you include the words: URGENT OBJECTION TO SALE OF CROWN LAND IN SOFALA in the heading and include reference to Lot 7310 DP 1123796 in the text.

For those of you who live the Bathurst Electorate also please chase your local member Paul Toole. You need to write, phone or email him. The option for best results is to go and see him at his office (ask for an appointment). When you communicate with him, request an urgent answer to the question will you stop this sale. If you phone him, be sure to follow up with a letter. Preferably hand written with your address details on it to confirm your status as a resident in the electorate. Must be signed of course. This advice goes to anytime you want to contact your local member about any issue.

Please don't sit on your hands and think someone else will do it. There are a lot of good writers on this forum so it would be good to see some directed prose! May Mbasko's passion be catching!

If you have a personal concern about this, lodge your interest without delay. Multiple objections that reflect a diversity of experience and impacts will be helpful to the way that Crown Lands examines the matter. Remember to explain the negative impact that would occur from such a sale. If they only get a few objections they might think it does not matter.

I will keep you informed with any updates.

cheers

Stephen
President
NAPFA
 
Here is Paul Toole's contact details:

Bathurst Electorate Office

Mr Paul Toole, MP
Suites 1 and 2
229 Howick Street
BATHURST NSW 2795

(02) 6332 1300

(02) 6332 1900

[email protected]
 
Just as a matter of interest == how many have put in personal objections on this one??
 
So according to the agent as of last email between Christmas and New Year...its under contract.

Hi Dbryan
This is under contract i will let you know if there are any changes.
Regards Chris

rainehorne

Chris Hagney
Property Consultant, R&H Bathurst
M : 0412 890273 . T : 02 6331 6555 . 197 Howick Street, BATHURST NSW 2795
F : 02 6331 5660 E : [email protected] . rh.com.au/bathurst
http://realestate.rh.com.au/images/signatures/ChairmansLogo_Small.jpg

As Mbasko suggested I sent in an email questioning why the dept is selling crown land.
Here is the answer the dept sent me today.

Dear Bryan

I refer to your enquiry dated 5th January 2016.

Please note that the property has been marketed for expressions of interest only. The property is not under contract. The Department intends to review all expressions of interests in February 2016. A decision as to whether the sale of Lot 7310 or part thereof is to proceed will be made at that time.

Your objection to the sale is noted. If you have any further questions please call me on 04......

--
David Baber | Projects Manager, Regional Projects West
Department of Primary Industries, Lands | Tamworth
PO Box 2185 | Dangar NSW 2309
25-27 Fitzroy Street Tamworth NSW 2340
T: 02 6883 3326 | M: 0427629288 | E: [email protected]
 
Like some other members I have received a reply from Mr Barber of the Crown Lands about this matter. He also rang me to discuss our concerns. The discussion was very cordial and gives me some confidence we wont get done over by this process, but we wont know that for some time. By way of background it seems the advertising may have been misleading because the sale was only meant to be for small lots within the overall block to provide some certainty/opportunity to current leaseholders/owners of those isolated lots within the overall block. I told Mr Barber that that we opposed any disposal that reduced the recreational access to the land.

The description of the property being 'Under Offer' by the Real Estate Agent is apparently an error!

For your information the Recreational Fishers are also now taking notice of this, as is Paddle NSW.

Anyway here is the relevant content in the response from Mr Barber. Continue to submit your objections to this sale please. I think this is an important case in the way these sales are managed and how objections get considered.

Cheers Stephen

President
NAPFA

(from Mr Barber)
I refer to our discussion today and your enquiry dated 4th January 2016.

As discussed, the Department is happy for input on this matter from NSW & ACT Prospectors and Fossickers Association Inc.

The groups concerns regarding on-going public use of the site are acknowledged and will be taken into account.

Please note that the property has been marketed for expressions of interest only. The property is not under contract. The Department intends to review all expressions of interests in February 2016. A decision as to whether the sale of Lot 7310 or part thereof is to proceed will be made at that time.

Note that I plan to have the Sofala site open for expressions of interest until 22nd January, at which time future use of the site will be reviewed.

If you have any further questions please call me on 0427629288.

David Baber | Projects Manager, Regional Projects West
Department of Primary Industries, Lands | Tamworth
PO Box 2185 | Dangar NSW 2309
25-27 Fitzroy Street Tamworth NSW 2340
T: 02 6883 3326 | M: 0427629288 | E: [email protected]
 
Got a similar response today too. Let's hope enough people submit objections to get it taken off the "expressions of interest" list altogether.
I wouldn't like to list my property with that agent - mistakingly had it "Under Offer" on the website listing & mistakingly telling people it was "Under Contract" :rolleyes:
 
Hi All,
I have just received an email from Crown Lands in response to my email regarding the sale of this parcel of land at Sofala, the prompt reply was pretty much the same as that received by Mbasko and NAPFA; also I sent an email to Crown Land Enquires and received another prompt reply stating it would be passed on to the relevant Crown Lands departments.
As a large number of members here are into wet prospecting it should go without saying that loosing this type of real estate with river frontage could drastically limit the opportunities of those members who rely on public land to pursue this great hobby; so I guess it would be fair to say if you value what we have, put pen to paper and start standing up for your access to this type of country.
Cheers, SinHof.
 
Visited Paul Tooles office and delivered a written objection, maps, Lot plan and the real estate agency sales brochure on the Lot.
Gave a short brief to staff mentioning all the organisations, S&F Party etc concerned over the proposed sale and the need for a number of public recreation river reserves at Sofala and the injection of revenue they would bring to the region and the struggling hamlet of Sofala. Staff said they had received 14 or so written/email submissions on the issue.

Members, please make a couple minutes to shoot off your objection to this proposed sale to the addresses listed in this thread.
Cheers RDD
 
email sent (to both addresses)

For them to say its "only" an EOI is them using weasel words. They should not be attempting to gather public interest in selling crown/public land to start with. So at the very minimum this is a waste of time and tax payers money at the worst the thin edge of the wedge for a sale.

Secondly if these idiots were REALLY interested in generating long term revenue why the hell would they be looking for what could only be a few $100k as a one time hit? Sack just 1 of the senior councilers and they would recognise the same amount of revenue and have no real impact to the councils operations anyway

Unless of course its some sort of backroom deal done to assist a mate... funny i am having flashbacks to the Auburn council story and the way dealings have been made there

im disgusted with these greedy no chin politicians....

Jason
 
Good to see some members taking the time to make their views known to Crown Lands etc. Please keep it up.

This is a lot of river frontage and has particular relevance to wet prospectors. However it should be of interest to everyone because a reduction in access for one is really a reduction for us all.

Stephen
President
NAPFA
 
FROM ME: Noticed that Lot 7310 DP 1123796 has been listed for sale. This land shows as crown land & is currently used for a range of recreational activities such as camping, fishing, swimming & fossicking. Why/how has this land been made available for private sale? Will this be ongoing along the crown land lots along the Turon River & other similar areas of recreational access around NSW? I would like to lodge my objection to this sale & the sale of any accessible Crown Lands that are used for recreational purposes

FROM THEM: Dear Jason. I refer to your enquiry today. Please note that the property has been marketed for expressions of interest only. The property is not under contract. The Department intends to review all expressions of interests in February 2016. A decision as to whether the sale of Lot 7310 or part thereof is to proceed will be made at that time. Your objection to the sale is noted. If you have any further questions please call me on 0427629xxx

FROM ME: Thanks for your reply David, appreciated. From my common man view I would expect that the revenues generated by the sale of this and / or other parcels of land would be relatively small in the big picture. May I ask why this land is being considered for Sale anyway? Is this initiative being driven by the Local, State or Federal government? Thank-you for finding the time to respond to this and the previous email. Regards

FROM THEM: Hi Jason. A number of residential properties and improvements are located within Lot 7310 and are encroaching on Crown land, this represents a risk to the public users of the reserve and the local residents. The Department is therefore looking to resolve this issue by selling certain parts of Lot 7310.

Sounds like to me they already have a bunch of buyers. This is the same "rationalization" that is happening all over the state including TSRs and crown gazetted roads through private property.. VERY :(

Cheers

Jason
 
Even the reply you got toecutta is word for word the same reply as I received ..if they are taking expressions of interest why is the agent telling any one that inquires that the land is under contract .. ???
This just prevents anyone making any inquiry at all through the agent..its as if they are doing the listing So it look like every thing is being done correctly.. Yet i get the feeling something is not legit.
The dept could have put the land up on their own web site for expressions of interest to lease the land, and not for sale as they often do with other crown lands, why engage a real estate agent who list it as for sale then the agent tells people its under contract and then later when people ask the dept whats going on it suddenly gets changed to expressions of interest. Yet they are not taking any expressions of interest from the public..
It smells of colusion between the dept the agent and who ever they are favouring.
 
to me the takeaway points are... "this represents a risk to the public users of the reserve and the local residents"

risk to owners - that their right to enjoy their own land in peace is in jeopardy
risk to crown land users - there will be no land to enjoy because it will be privately bought and locked down

i dont blame the landowners either to be honest in taking advantage of this opportunity and it will be the current landowners i reckon.. i have cringed nearly every trip up that for the last 30 years because of some un-thoughtful action by a fool with no idea and zero respect... i couldn't imagine what it would be like if it was constant.

but I greatly object to the principle that the government is / can sell off "our" land to private concerns... and like selling things to overseas concerns... once its gone to private hands.. its gone FOREVER 8.(
 
Thats what gets me toecutta if the dept wanted to give existing property owners options why was an agent needed , why not just notify them directly and make a public anouncment on their website of their intentions to allow existing property owners to lease or purchase additional land..
I just got off the phone with the agent unfortunatly Chris the agent handling ( mishandling) the property was not there to answer my call. I spoke to a women in the sales office that said that they have had many offers on the land but had been told to change the notice from for sale, to expressions of interest only on Monday this week.
When I asked more questions as to why the change and why Chris had emailed me that the land was already under contract she became guarded and apologetic and repeated a few times that that every thing was legitimate and she would ask Chris to contact me to explain.
i said I would email him my self which I have no intention of doing because I really think something is not right with the whole thing.
I hope more people email the crown lands dept and voice their objections so we can stop whats going on altogether.
 
NAPFA said:
Just as a matter of interest == how many have put in personal objections on this one??
Click to expand...

My Objection has been submitted as follows:

Email subject: Urgent Objection to Sale and Expressions of Interest: Lot 7310 Upper Turon Rd Sofala NSW 2795 - DP 1123796.

To whom it may concern,

Urgent objection to sale and expressions of interest.

Why/how has this land been allowed and made available for sale? Also going from under contract by agent to expressions of interest?

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-lifestyle-nsw-sofala-7788986

This land shows as crown land river frontage that has public utility
and is currently used for a range of recreational activities such as camping, fishing, swimming and fossicking with little other access provided to the area and river in this region so close to the Historic Sofala township.

Urgent reply required.

Regards,

Ross Evgeniou

1453085428_lot_7310_upper_turon_rd_sofala_nsw_2795_-_dp_1123796.png


Sent to:

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministercontactform/minister-blair
[email protected] Bathurst Mayor.
[email protected] Bathurst Deputy Mayor.
[email protected] Bathurst Councillor.
[email protected] Bathurst Councillor.
[email protected] Bathurst Councillor.
[email protected] Bathurst Councillor.
[email protected] Bathurst Councillor.
[email protected] Bathurst Councillor.
 

Latest posts

Top