The following timeline of events is supplied to help the reader understand the sequence of events leading up to the development at Fred Caterson Reserve's Pony club site.
This timeline is a compilation of documented events and publicly available records. It is provided for informational purposes only.
(All references are to publicly available documents, meeting recordings, GIPA material, or attachments cited.)
Early discussions with Eastwood Rugby(ER) referenced in Council meeting (2020)
During a Council meeting on 24 November 2020 (recording timestamp 43:04), one of the Councillors publicly stated:
“I was first approached by Eastwood rugby about four years ago I think it would be…”
This suggests that discussions may have begun as early as 2016.
(Refer document: 2020.11.24. CouncilMeeting_Item4Transcript, 2020.11.24 Ordinary_Council_Meeting_Minutes and recording on Council's archive)
Council requested Crown Lands not renew the Hills District Pony Club (HDPC) lease for the Pony Club grounds.
(Refer 2016.02.09 Letter from Hills Council requesting non-renewal of Pony Club lease)
TG Millner was sold by Eastwood Rugby Club to North Ryde RSL for $18 million.
(Refer Attachment: 2020.04.17 Update on finalisation of Sale of TG Millner, also on ER website https://www.woods.rugby/post/update-on-the-finalisation-of-the-sale-of-tg-millner)
Council adopted Contributions Plan No. 19 (CP19), allocating $30,931,942 (Item PF1) toward Fred Caterson Reserve (FCR) as active open space for community use, including three fields (one allocated for cricket).
Stated: "Expansion of Fred Caterson Reserve to provide an additional 3 single playing fields (including 1 cricket oval) and associated parking, amenities, pathways and planting." (Refer CP19 Pg 22 and Appendix B – Sep 2018)
The document does not appear to refer to Eastwood Rugby or specify a rugby-excusive allocation.
Correspondence indicates Eastwood Rugby engaged with NSW Government representatives regarding relocation to FCR.
21 Dec 2018 – Eastwood Rugby's Letter to Crown Lands (Refer 2018.12.21)
6 May 2019 – Letter from Eastwood Rugby GM to Minister for Water, Property and Housing (Refer 2019.05.06)
31 May 2019 – Ministerial response noting the land was leased to Hills District Pony Club (Refer 2019.05.31)
An 8 Nov 2019 email chain references intermediary firm Barton and Deakin pursuing discussions regarding land transfer to Council management.
(Refer 2019.12.04 Email chain)
Also noted in this exchange are details about the Pony Club lease - "The Pony Club currently hold a 50% rental rebate with a total yearly rent of approximately $13k".
Material obtained using GIPA indicates approximately 60 instances of communications between Council and Eastwood Rugby during this period. Some documents were withheld stating “Confidential.” and some supplied partially.
The released schedule indicates that several communications occurred before Council was formally granted management control of Lot 224 DP752020, and before the Master Plan was publicly released.
(Refer NCAT GIPA Schedules - 2025.11.11 1 and 2)
Council passed Resolution 402 to:
Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) for redevelopment and use of the Pony Club grounds as a Rugby Union facility.
Place the Draft Master Plan for FCR on public exhibition.
(Refer Council minutes 28.07.2020 and agenda ; Appendix B)
Hills District Pony Club ceased operations shortly after losing access to its grounds.
(Refer document 2020.08.03 news -Daily telegraph)
Council released Draft Masterplan for FCR describing a “Premier Rugby Union Precinct.”
The document did not attribute this to Eastwood Rugby.
Reference: Document archive 2020.12.10 (and Council website.)
Eastwood Rugby was the sole respondent to the EOI.
(Reference 2020.09.11 Noticeboard Listing – EOI21-0001)
At a Council meeting, Council adopted:
The Fred Caterson Reserve Master Plan
The Eastwood Rugby EOI
Both were resolved under the same Council item (Resolution 665, Item 4).
(Refer Minutes 2020.11.24 and on Council website)
Public communications have generally described the arrangement with Eastwood Rugby as commencing in 2020.
From 2023 onward, public communications increasingly referred to “community fields”.
"The Hills has the highest housing target in NSW placing significant pressure on our parks and playing fields," Dr Byrne said. "These additional community fields are a vital step toward meeting demand and supporting active, healthy lifestyles."
Eastwood Rugby released a public video on Facebook announcing it had “secured a new home ground.”
The map shown in the video appears more detailed than the version exhibited publicly the previous evening. A similarly detailed layout later also appears in two planning proposal documents by T.G. Millner related planning proposals - 22 May 2022 and 25 Aug 2022.
(Refer Attachment: 2022.05.11 Planning Proposal; Appendix B )
Documents obtained via GIPA later show that the design in the video is a a concept design for rugby grounds at Gilbert Road, Castle Hill was prepared by Eastwood Rugby, dated June 2017, prior to the Master Plan release. (Refer: 2017.06.30 Eastwood Rugby Grounds Concept drawing)
A similar design later appears within the Fred Caterson Reserve Master plan as a “Rugby precinct.”
In the same 24 Nov 2020 meeting recording referenced above
A Councillor described discussions with Minister Constance that resulted in a change to state government land designation within 24 hours.
She also states "Eastwood Rugby is also wanting to fund $3m towards this project and also undertake the maintenance of this site which would save Council approximately 100,000 a year. "
(Refer document: 2020.11.24. CouncilMeeting_Item4Transcript, 2020.11.24 Ordinary_Council_Meeting_Minutes and recording on Council's archive)
Eastwood Rugby’s Strategic Plan references Council committing “around $10m.”
This appears consistent with capital works allocations within CP19 (PF1).
(Refer 2020.12 or 2021 Strategic Plan update)
Memorandum of Understanding formally executed between Council and Eastwood Rugby.
(Refer 2022.02.11 Executed MoU)
Residents raised concerns regarding:
Native vegetation loss
Wildlife impacts
Consultation process
An open letter was submitted to the Mayor (May 2023).
The response from the Council is also published.
On 13 June 2023, Council approved $4.5 million toward rugby fields.
As of 14 December 2023, the environmental reports relating to the impact of the development on Fred Caterson Reserve were not publicly available on Council’s website.
Despite requests under GIPA, access to the reports was initially refused.
Eventually the applicants sought intervention from the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) and was released a year later in Jul 2024 to the applicant.
Ecological Constraints Report dated May 2023
Arboricultural Assessment Report dated February 2023
Tree Hollow Inspection Report dated July 2023
Information obtained via GIPA such as the Acoustics report (Reference 2024.03.20) and the Traffic study(2024.02.26 Traffic Study) have not been located on the Fred Caterson Reserve webpage as of Mar 2026.
Sample excerpt from Traffic report - "On weekends, predominately on Saturdays, there could be crowds of up to 200 people to watch regular games. When the main Premier game is taking place from 3pm once a fortnight, a crowd of between 1500 and 2,000 persons may be in attendance. Some 185 spaces are proposed on site. These spaces would be sufficient to cater for the car generation of the Club on a regular Saturday morning as well as training sessions during the week. When a Premier Game takes place on a Saturday afternoon up to 480 spaces may be required."
Sample excerpt from Acoustic report - "As per the projects drawings the general seating area can host up to 2,000 persons with an expected average of 1,500 persons during a major event."
GIPA requests were also made requesting material related to communication between The Hills Shire Council and Eastwood Rugby.
Released emails show Eastwood Rugby sharing draft announcements with Council prior to publication.
(Refer 2023.12.13 as one such correspondence)
An online petition of approximately 16,000 signatures was tabled.
Council did not support the petition and did not resolve to hold a public briefing on the Master Plan.
During the meeting, some Councillors questioned the petition’s validity.
(Refer minutes of Council meeting)
Council amended its Code of Meeting Practice to accept only paper petitions. (See minutes 28 Nov’23).
Correspondence during this time indicates ongoing discussions between Council and Eastwood Rugby regarding lighting requirements and lease terms.(Refer emails 2025.02.14)
"Please let me know if you require any further info and of any specifications or upgrades beyond community level that you are certain of so we can attempt to make provision for these in the final designs"
In a meeting between the Council and Eastwood Rugby, meeting minutes (Refer 2025.06.23) state -
"Financial Contributions and Risk Allocation - Council notes that the Term Sheet omits Eastwood Rugby’s previously stated <redacted> commitment to the project, as outlined in the Club’s EOI submission. Additionally, the Term Sheet seeks to transfer all maintenance responsibilities to Council, despite the Club’s express commitment in the EOI to “maintain the site.” These terms are not agreed and appear contrary to the intent of the MoU in this regard."
The redacted commitment is not specified in the released document.
A $3m contribution was referenced in the 24 Nov 2020 meeting recording (As referenced Nov 2020).
Draft license term discussions indicate fields would be made available to the public for approximately 650 hours per year. (Refer 2025.06.23 Draft Licence Terms Meeting minutes)
"The three fields will be made available by Eastwood Rugby to the public for approximately 650 hours per year. The hours of use by Eastwood Rugby will vary monthly depending on the season and weather and ground conditions."
650 hours per year equates to an average of approximately 1.8 hours per day if evenly distributed.
Draft license term discussions also indicate rent paid to Council would be "$10.00 per annum (inclusive of GST) with CPI increases for the term of the License."
Council resolved to increase the tender allocation for base-level fields to $16,615,242.
The report states CP19 would be in deficit and borrowing from other contribution plans, as permitted under the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979.
(Refer Council agenda Item 13, Pg 1106 and Minutes)
A Councillor helped table a paper petition “Scrap the Master Plan” containing 720 signatures, that expresses strong objection to the FCR Master Plan.
The motion is put and lost.
During this meeting, an opposing Councillor stated during a Council meeting that no material had been presented to the Council regarding Eastwood Rugby’s involvement in the previous four years.
The meeting transcript does not record clarification being provided at that time by any others present.
(Refer Attachment: 2025.08.26 Transcript and recording)
On 13th Oct 2025, Council introduced a change to the Generic POM (Plan of management). A POM sets out how Community Land must be used.
It is voted in at Council (Item 6) despite 96 community submissions against it and 29 submissions for.
Some residents have indicated they did not receive individual responses to their submissions.
Resolution also states
“The Draft Generic Plan of Management – Crown “Community” Land be submitted to the New South Wales Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure to obtain Minister’s consent for Council to adopt the Plan of Management.”
Works commenced in February 2026.
The Generic Plan of Management adopted in October 2025 was subject to Ministerial consent.
As noted above, it is unclear from publicly available records whether Ministerial consent has been granted.
Note that the previous POM was as of 2014, when Fred Caterson Reserve was still Crown Land and not formally managed by THSC until 2020.
The documentation and public records show:
Early relocation discussions of Eastwood Rugby were referenced as occurring around 2016.
Formal EOI and Masterplan adoption occurred in 2020.
A formal MoU between Eastwood Rugby and Council was executed in 2022.
Public communications from 2023 onward frequently referred to “community fields.”
Ongoing lease discussions and design specifications continued through 2025.
Community petitions and objections were formally tabled in 2023 and 2025.
Works commenced Feb 2026. The Generic Plan of Management adopted in October 2025 was subject to Ministerial consent. As noted above, it is unclear from publicly available records whether that consent has been granted.
This timeline reflects documented events and publicly available records.
It is not intended to draw conclusions but to present the chronology of events.
Note that not ALL events are included due to readability.