News · Planning · Speers Point

A 15-year plan for Speers Point Park is coming to exhibition, and part of it needs a public hearing by law

On 27 July Lake Macquarie councillors resolved to put a new Plan of Management and Master Plan for Speers Point Park on public exhibition for not less than 42 days. The park is 37 hectares, one of three regional parks in the city, and the plans currently governing it were adopted in 2008. The part worth knowing in advance: because the draft would re-categorise some of the council-owned community land, the council must also hold a public hearing during the exhibition. That is a statutory step, not a courtesy.

The Hunter Ledger · 4 August 2026 · read directly from the 175-page meeting agenda, linked below

Status, 4 August 2026: the exhibition has not opened yet. The same resolution requires the draft to go to the state planning department for approval first, and as at today no Speers Point Park project appears on the council’s engagement site. This is what is coming, and when to watch for it.

Speers Point Park is the one with the regional playground, the swim centre, the war memorial and the boat ramp. The agenda describes it as one of three regional parks in the city, covering an area of over 37 hectares, taking in sporting fields, arts and cultural buildings, cafes, an enclosed dog park, car parks, a pontoon and a jetty, and drawing visitors from well beyond the local government area.

Its governing documents are old. The current Plan of Management and Master Plan for the site were adopted in 2008, and the council says a new pair is needed to guide the next 15 years.

Why a public hearing is required, and what that signals

Most exhibitions are just an exhibition. This one carries an extra step. The resolution commits the council to conducts a public hearing during the exhibition period to gain feedback on the proposal to re-categorise areas of community land, and the report explains why in one line: The public hearing is due to changes to the categorisation of part of the Council-owned community land.

Categorisation is not a formality. Under the Local Government Act, community land is assigned categories such as park, sportsground, natural area or general community use, and the category constrains what may lawfully be done there and what a plan of management may permit. Changing a category changes the envelope of possible future use, which is precisely why the Act attaches a hearing to it rather than leaving it inside the ordinary submissions process.

The agenda item does not name which areas are proposed to move category, or to what. That detail sits in the draft plan itself, which is an attachment we have not read. It is the first thing to look for when the exhibition opens, and the specific thing the hearing exists to test.

What is actually in the draft

The Plan of Management incorporates 39 actions across six management themes: play for everyone; sports and active recreation; passive recreation; events; arts, culture and environment; and parking and access.

The Master Plan sets the physical layout for the next 15 years. Among the key proposals the report lists:

expanded play opportunities for toddlers, youth and adults;
improved functionality of the heritage precinct taking in the Heritage Pavilion, stage and shelter shed, including a potential relocation of the war memorial;
more passive recreation through additional shelters, accessible pathways, reinstating the changing places amenities and better connections to the lake;
amenities expansions, upgrades and parking improvements for organised sport;
an arts trail and cultural garden around the Multi-Arts Pavilion (MAP) mima; and
improved economic and commercial opportunities through event use.

The war memorial line is the one most likely to generate submissions, and it is worth quoting exactly rather than paraphrasing. The report describes a potential relocation as part of improving the heritage precinct. It does not say a decision has been made, and we are not reporting one.

Two approvals before anyone can comment

The park is not entirely council land. It is made up of council-owned community land plus three Crown reserves, with the council appointed as Crown Land Manager. Under the Crown Land Management Act 2016, Crown land managed by a council must be handled as community land under the Local Government Act, which is what pulls it into a plan of management and requires it to be categorised at all.

That is why the resolution also has the council forwards a copy of the Draft Speers Point Park Plan of Management and its Master Plan to the state planning department before public exhibition. The department signs off first; the public sees it second.

What to watch, and when

The exhibition runs for at least 42 days once it opens, and the council has committed that at the end of it, officers will report back to council with the feedback and any proposed changes. So there are three moments worth diarising: the exhibition opening, the public hearing inside that window, and the report that comes back afterwards.

We checked the council’s engagement site on 4 August and no Speers Point Park project is listed, which is consistent with the department step still being in front of it. We will report the dates when they appear.

How we read this

Everything above is from item 26SP034 in the agenda of the Lake Macquarie City Council Ordinary Meeting of 27 July 2026, a 175-page document we downloaded and read directly. Quoted phrases are the report’s own words. The explanation of what land categorisation does under the Local Government Act is general background, not a quotation from the report.

What we have not read. The draft Plan of Management and the draft Master Plan are attachments to that item and are separate documents; we have not read them, so we cannot say which areas are proposed for re-categorisation, from what to what, or what the 39 actions individually say. We have reported the report about them. We have also not confirmed the minutes: Lake Macquarie confirms minutes at a later Ordinary meeting, so what we describe is the recommendation before council on 27 July as recorded in the agenda. We make no claim that the war memorial will be moved, and no claim about any individual’s position.

Sources

Agenda, Ordinary Council Meeting, 27 July 2026 (PDF, 175 pages)
Lake Macquarie City Council, downloaded and read 4 August 2026. Item 26SP034: the recommendation to exhibit for not less than 42 days, to hold a public hearing on re-categorising community land, and to forward the drafts to the state planning department first; the park’s size and facilities, the 2008 adoption of the current plans, the 39 actions across six themes, and the master plan proposals including the potential relocation of the war memorial.
Shape Lake Mac
Lake Macquarie City Council’s engagement platform, checked 4 August 2026: no Speers Point Park Plan of Management project listed, i.e. the exhibition had not opened as at that date.

Use the park, or know when the exhibition opens? Tell us and we will check it against the council’s own documents and log the outcome here.