A CAMPAIGN has been launched to save the historic TS Vendetta building at the Jetty Foreshores following State Government plans to redevelop the building into a $5m waterfront Community Centre.

NSW Minister for Water, Property and Housing Melinda Pavey and State Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh formally announced the demolition of the TS Vendetta building and construction of a new two-storey Community Centre in April.

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The new public waterfront building will include a cafe, watercraft storage facility and public amenities, as well as accomodation for the TS Vendetta naval cadets.

TS Vendetta unit commanding officer Ivor McMahon has blasted the State Government and Coffs Harbour City Council over its lack of consultation with the naval cadet unit over the new Community Centre and stated that they found out about the new building two days before the public announcement was made.

“I got two days notice, so I didn’t really get a say in it,” Mr McMahon stated.

“It hit me like a rock when I heard; Gurmesh (Singh) was the only one who had the guts to ring me.

“All the deals were being done behind closed doors so they wouldn’t have any public backlash.”

Mr McMahon said Council had informed the State Government that the TS Vendetta building was “shovel ready”.
“Council told the Crown land that we were shovel ready to be knocked down and rebuilt,” he stated.

“Nobody at Council or nobody from Melinda Pavey’s office even contacted us or looked at the building to see if it was ready to be knocked down.”

According to Mr McMahon, the State Government has no documents which state that the TS Vendetta building is “unsound or unsightly”.

“All they had was a verbal (statement) from Council,” he stated.

“They (the State Government) fell for it hook, line and sinker.

“I would have liked to stay there (the TS Vendetta building), there shouldn’t have been any reason why we needed to knock that building down.”

The naval cadet unit has undertaken refurbishment works on the TS Vendetta building in the past year including a new roof, new flooring inside and repainting of the historic building.

“We would never have spent the money on the building if we knew it was going to be demolished,” Mr McMahon stressed.

Mr McMahon said the new Community Centre building will only leave them with one third of the space the naval cadets currently occupy at the TS Vendetta building.

“We will only have about one third of the area underneath as what we’ve got now,” he said.

He said the naval cadet unit has been negotiating with the Department of Defence on the issue, but has been informed that “that’s all that is available on the bottom floor” of the new building.

Mr McMahon said the Department of Defence was unable to help them because the TS Vendetta building was “sitting on Crown land”.

“The Council are managers of the Crown land,” he stated.

“As soon as they (Council) realised they had money this was their opportunity to take us down.

“They’ve had their eyes set on us before, they’ve tried to get us off the Jetty area and have us removed permanently twice before, but this time they went about it in another way, and got the State (Government) to help them.”

Mr McMahon is currently moving the naval cadets gear out of the TS Vendetta building and into a container in Duke Street, Coffs Harbour, to store the unit’s uniforms and general operational gear as well as three containers at the southern end of the Jetty strip which will store the unit’s boats, to enable the naval cadets to go sailing.

“This is what we have until June next year,” he stated.

Mr McMahon said the naval cadet unit had emailed Minister Pavey about the issue to express their discontent.
“Her people know that I’m not happy,” he said.

“No one is happy, I’m totally disgusted that the Council can act in this way, they’re just gonna blame the State (Government) now.

“It gives them a way out.”

When contacted by News Of The Area for comment on the matter Coffs Harbour City Council stated that the new building was “entirely a State Government project” and that comment on the issue would need to be obtained from the State Government.

A spokesperson from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment said plans for the new community building were developed in consultation with the Department of Defence to ensure the building can best meet the needs of the Navy Cadets, including their parade and water equipment requirements.

“The fit out of the Navy Cadets space, to an agreed scope and design, is included in the $5m stimulus funding for the project,” the spokesperson stated on Monday.

“The NSW Government will continue to work collaboratively with Coffs Harbour City Council to deliver the building to meet the needs of all parties, and with the Department of Defence to progress plans for the Navy Cadets’ occupancy.

“The community building will provide family friendly amenity, alongside space for the Navy Cadets and other community groups.”

State Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh said the State Government was “working as hard as we can with them (the naval cadet unit)”.

“The cadets are definitely going in there (the new building) and we’re fitting them out in the building to the tune of $150,000,” Mr Singh stated.

“The issue that we are having is that they (the cadets) need to basically deal with the hierarchy (the Department of Defence).”

Mr Singh said the Department of Defence has been working with the State Government on the design of the new building and that the State Government “haven’t had any complaints with the Department of Defence in that regard”.

“We would love to work more closely with them (the cadets) if we could,” Mr Singh said.

“They’re (the State Government) going to work as hard with them as we can.”

Mr Singh said the development application for the new Community Centre is currently with Council and construction work is due to commence at the end of the year.

Mr McMahon confirmed that the naval cadet unit would move back into the lower portion of the new building in June 2022 when it is due to be completed.

“We basically have got to accept what we’ve been given, otherwise we won’t be let back because the Council is writing the rules as they go,” he stated.

“We can’t do anything about it now, it’s done and dusted and the Council are not gonna stop.

“They could have gone about this in a much better way.”

The TS Vendetta naval cadets have operated out of the current TS Vendetta building for 49 years and are due to commemorate their 50th anniversary in 2022.

A ‘Save TSVendetta’ petition has recently been established by the TS Vendetta Unit Support Committee through the change.org online platform and will be forwarded to Minister Pavey to express public objection to the demolition of the historic TS Vendetta building.

The petition can be found at https://chng.it/TGbCR2cRmd.

By Emma DARBIN