At a BMCC meeting last night, the Mayor, Mark Greenhill OAM, introduced a Mayoral Minute as follows.
ITEM NO: 2 SUBJECT: FUTURE OF CLAIRVAUX CENTRE IN KATOOMBA
FILE NO: F16021 - 25/223373
| Delivery Program LinkPrincipal Activity: LiveService: City Wide Strategic Planning Service |
| Recommendations: 1. That the Council notes that the Department of Communities and Justice have ended all current leases of the community-based non-government organisation (NGOs) at the Clairvaux Centre in Katoomba and affected NGOs have either moved or are in the process of moving out of the site. They offered significant community support services to the Blue Mountains; 2. That the Council writes to Department of Communities and Justice, Minister and Shadow Minister for Families and Communities , Minister and Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Trish Doyle MP, Member for the Blue Mountains, strongly advocating for the Clairvaux Centre site to be retained in public ownership to allow NGOs to continue to operate out of the site and provide the critical support services to the Blue Mountains community; 3. That the Council notes the State government’s determination to deliver housing and the strong local policy support for affordable housing, the delivery of affordable housing on the site is to be investigated as part of the proposal to retain the site in public ownership. However, this is not to compromise the continued use of the site for the delivery of critical community support services and any affordable housing outcome must be consistent with the natural and built character of the local area; and 4. That the Council notes that any transfer of the Clairvaux site into Council ownership needs to be accompanied by sufficient funds to bring the site up to an appropriate standard for the continued delivery of community support services. |
Mayoral Minute
Background provided by the Mayor Greenhill:
This matter was brought to the attention of Blue Mountains City Council via a Mayoral Minute in February 2022. At that time, Council advocated for the required renovations to be made to the site to keep the community tenants in situ.
History of Clairvaux Centre Katoomba
Clairvaux was purchased in 1967 to increase accommodation for wards of the state and boys with disabilities. Accommodation at the existing state institutions at Brush Farm, Mittagong Farm Home and Werrington Park was becoming strained. The home was opened in 1969 with 24 boys. There was a special school on the site, operated by the Education Department. Clairvaux was closed down in the 1990s and by 2014 it hosted accommodation for a range of community-based organisations.
History of Community Tenants
Blue Mountains Aboriginal Culture and Resource Centre
Since 1994, the Blue Mountains Aboriginal Culture and Resource Centre (BMACRC) has played a pivotal role in the lives of many Dharug and Gundungurra people, as well as other First Nations people in the Blue Mountains. This significant community work providing support services for early childhood, youth and Elders has been undertaken from Clairvaux Centre in Katoomba for over 27 years. This is an important meeting place for the Blue Mountains First Nation community, a community that is already traumatised by dispossession, displacement, disadvantage and discrimination.
Greystanes Disability Services
Greystanes Disability Services has been providing quality services to people with disabilities in the Blue Mountains since its establishment in Leura in 1958. Greystanes Disability Services assists people with disabilities who may require significant support to participate and engage, to communicate, to exercise choice and decision-making, and for daily living and good health. From its inception in 1958 as a residential facility it has evolved to provide support based community living, managing seven community homes in the Blue Mountains and Penrith as well as day activities for people with disabilities through Day Programs, a flexible home support service, and the development of staff training materials and resources for families.
Greystanes had a day program, Leura Day Options, at Clairvaux for around 20 years. Leura Day Options provided a range of recreation, leisure, social and community programs for people with disabilities. The programs focussed on developing skills for a range of people with disabilities, acknowledging that all people with disabilities have skills and can be supported to refine and extend these skills. Leura Day Options provided a space that people with disabilities could interact, develop skills and have fun in a safe environment. The site at Clairvaux was indispensable over the years as it allowed Greystanes Disability Services to integrate their clients into the community and utilise the services especially of Wildplant Rescue to interact with people, do gardening and watering and develop social skills.
Blue Mountains Wildplant Rescue Service
Currently still onsite, the Blue Mountains Wildplant Rescue Service (BMWRS) - the first of its kind in Australia – was formed to help protect and promote the natural values of the Blue Mountains, and is considered a model for communities around Australia working in a practical way to conserve and extend local biodiversity and to save remnant bushland from sprawling development. Formally established in 1994, BMWRS is a community driven, not-for-profit organisation, based in Katoomba. From its inception, it applied an innovative concept for saving the natural plant heritage in urban areas, by rescuing plants from sites approved for development and relocating them elsewhere to gardens and protected reserves. The organisation’s mission - to protect Blue Mountains wildlife - has broadened to include the propagation of locally endemic native flora, and is now one of the largest native plant nurseries in the Blue Mountains. In 1998 BMWRS opened its nursery at the Clairvaux Centre and is one of the largest suppliers of native plant seedlings to authorities, such as Council, landscape contractors and bush regeneration groups. Their service is critical to bush regeneration activities and the protection of biodiversity in the Blue Mountains. Due to the nature of its business it will be difficult to find alternative accommodation to house this important community service.
Community Support
Former state and federal MP and stalwart of the Labor party, Bob Debus, has called the decision to close the Clairvaux Centre in Katoomba as “unethical” and “ignorant”, for enforcing the eviction of the groups from the site. Bob Debus helped negotiate the original arrangements in the mid-1990s and sees the potential sale as a “betrayal” of Clairvaux’s long history as a cultural and community hub.
The NSW government has been gradually evicting longstanding tenants from Clairvaux over the past several years. In September 2025, responsibility for the site was transferred from the department of Communities and Justice to the department of Department of Land and Property, which is in charge of divesting ‘surplus’ government property and selling it to the private sector.
The State government’s decision to transfer the property to the Department of Land and Property was done without notice or consultation with the community, and a request for an interim agreement on a moratorium on the sale of the land, made in April 2025, has been ignored.
Affordable housing
The Blue Mountain’s unique environmental context alongside broader housing market trends impacts the affordability of housing in the Blue Mountains. As such, Council’s key strategic planning documents all support the provision of affordable housing. These include:
• Community Strategic Plan - An objective of the Blue Mountains Community Strategic Plan 2035 is to provide housing which is affordable, well-designed and of an appropriate character, while also meeting the needs of our population at different life stages.
• Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS) - Council’s LSPS, Blue Mountains 2040: Living Sustainably includes actions that address housing affordability. Local planning priorities 3 and 6 within that statement reference the need to improve affordability, with action 3.17 stating that:
Council will begin to implement the recommendation of the Affordable Housing Review (Action 6.13) to improve housing affordability and reduce housing stress within the Blue Mountains
• Local Housing Strategy (LHS) - One of the visions of Council’s LHS is for local housing in the Blue Mountains that:
Meets the needs of a changing population at all life stages and that is affordable, accessible and well designed.
• Local Environmental Plan (LEP) - Council’s LEP 2015 includes an aim to “promote the provision of accessible, diverse, and affordable housing options to cater for the changing housing needs of the community”.
• Katoomba Master Plan (KMP) – the KMP which was adopted in November 2023 details the need to “expand the provision of diverse housing, with a particular focus on affordable housing”.
In accordance with the LSPS action, an Affordable Housing Review was undertaken which highlighted the significant pressure around housing affordability on the Blue Mountains community. In response, Council prepared an Affordable Housing Policy which was adopted in November 2024. This policy provides a framework for encouraging and facilitating affordable housing projects in the Blue Mountains. The policy outlines goals, principles, actions and governance arrangements to ensure flexibility for bespoke affordable residential projects that meet the unique needs and development limitations of the area.
Given the State government’s determined drive to deliver housing and the strong local policy support for affordable housing, the delivery of affordable housing on the site should be investigated as part of a proposal to retain the site in public ownership. However, the delivery of affordable housing must respect the natural and built character of the Blue Mountains and should not compromise the continued use of the site for the delivery of critical community support services.
Councillor comment on funding
No additional funding is required to implement the recommendations in this Mayoral Minute.
Operational response
This Mayoral Minute is supported.
Leadership Team
No presentation is required for the Leadership Team.
Letters of advocacy
Council will write a letter to the Department of Communities and Justice as well as the Minister for Families and Communities. Council will also write letters to:
• Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
• Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
• Ms Trish Doyle MP (Member for Blue Mountains)
Discussion
The three NGO’s provide a critical community support service to our First Nations People, individuals with a disability and their families and support networks, and to the environment. They are the largest service providers present in the Blue Mountains for each of their respective sectors. The Clairvaux Centre provides them with the necessary facilities to enable them to effectively deliver their service. Without Clairvaux, these indispensable support services provided by BMACRC, Greystanes Disability Services and BMWRS may not continue after almost three decades of operation.
The decision by DCJ to end the lease arrangements on the grounds that the property is not fit for purpose and meeting current standards suggests a history of failing to adequately resource its maintenance obligations. The substantial cost of $2.4 million to make fit seems overestimated, and may be more a justification to evict the current tenants and sell the property delivering a substantial financial windfall to the NSW government.
By the nature of their operations, all three service providers require a combination of buildings and open space. Realistically, there may be no alternative accommodation opportunities available to the NGOs that enable them to maintain their functionality and financial viability.
The termination of their occupancy may potentially result in the winding up of their operations, to the detriment of the Blue Mountains community. On behalf of the affected NGOs, Council can provide advocacy to the relevant Ministers in the NSW government and to the Member for Blue Mountains requesting that DCJ withdraw its notice to terminate the existing occupancy, and that DCJ properly invest in the renovations required to allow the three NGOs to continue to operate out of the Clairvaux Centre, enabling them to provide their critical support services to the Blue Mountains community.
Financial implications
There are no financial implications for Council adopting the recommendations in this Mayoral.
Alignment with Delivery Program and/or Operational Plan
The recommendations in this Mayoral Minute are aligned with the Key Directions Protect and Care:
2.1.a Protect and manage the City’s natural areas and the flora and fauna, ecological communities and ecosystems they support;
3.1.b Implement community development initiatives that address the needs of the vulnerable and disadvantaged; and
3.1.e Support creation of a diverse, inclusive, safe and caring Blue Mountains where service providers consider needs of different life stage groups and other specific groups including: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders; people with a disability; culturally and linguistically diverse people; and people of diverse sexualities
Conclusion This Mayoral Minute is supported