Rail enthusiasts battle Huntlee property developers over North Rothbury land and railway

Defence barrister Peter Deakin QC said the not-for-profit group was told to get off the land, despite the fact the developers knew the group couldn't afford to move anywhere. That forced a firesale of valuable heritage railway items, including locomotives, worth at least $7.8 million, because the group was given only 12 months to relocate, he said.

That was despite the fact they'd been led to believe they could remain on the site indefinitely, or be financially assisted to relocate, and the way the group was pressured into signing relevant documents amounted to misleading and unconscionalbe conduct, Mr Deakin has put to the court.

That is the guts of a cross-claim brought by the NSW Historic sites and Railway Heritage Company, a trustee for the Hunter Valley Railway Trust headed by trains enthusiast Chris Richards, against Misthold Pty Limited, which is owned by Huntlee - the developer of Huntlee Estate at North Rothbury.

Central to the cross claim, as well as the original application by Misthold for the group to vacate the land which sites in the middle of a new estate expected to house more than 20,000 people - is whether or not a relocation notice was served on the group at the end of a five-year lease in 2012.

In an affadavit signed in October, 2020, Misthold director Danny Murphy said that no relocation notice was ever served on the group, Mr Deakin said. "When he was shown a relocation notice signed by him he withdrew that suggestion," he said. "He then accepted in his next affadavit that he was wrong."

Mr Deakin said the railway group was pressured into surrendering all of its rights under the 2007 lease, because the land owners were "desperate" to prevent them from buying the land, which was possible only under the terms of the original lease, but not the subsequent two-year lease signed in 2012.

"That is the plot, that is the scheme, and it is ... a factor in the unconscionable conduct we are alleging, that they were trying to deprive us by any means they can of that option," Mr Deakin said.

Robert Walton, barrister for Misthold, said the terms of both leases were clear, as was the case itself, that the group has no continuing right to occupy the land. He has also put to the court that ithe statute of limitations of six years had since passed, ruling out any cross-claim and the potential for damages flowing from it.

"None of what is raised ... affects the plaintiff's right to the possession of the land and it will be inevitable in due course that orders for possession will be made," Mr Walton said.

The case, before Justice Anthony Payne, continues.

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