Residents of an historic Newcastle laneway are fighting to preserve what they see as their local park from sale and potential development.

Glovers Lane in Cooks Hill was created from the former Burwood rail line to Newcastle Harbour which went underneath a bridge on Laman Street, down Burwood Street and the 'Burwood Triangle' where the former Frederick Ash building stood until recently, and on to the port for the loading of coal for export.

Local resident, Mark Sampson, explains the history of the site, "Council purchased two vacant house lots adjacent to the disused Newcastle-Burwood rail-line in the 1970's after a fire at 29 & 31 Laman Street."

"Council's goal was to extend Auckland Street through to meet Queen Street and on to Darby Street, which would have involved demolishing several houses in Dawson Street. This idea was soon shelved due to community opposition and Glovers Lane Reserve was promptly forgotten about for nearly 40 years."

"House (or lot) numbers 29 & 31 Laman Street have not existed in the public domain for nearly 40 years. For this reason 29 & 31 Laman Street (now known publicly as Glovers Lane Public Reserve) appeared FOR SALE without 'public awareness' on the agenda of the Ordinary Council Meeting of the City of Newcastle held on 28 May 2013."

"The Glovers Lane Reserve Resident Action Group was formed in an effort to save this unique, historically significant landmark inner-city park. The group believes that an over-zealous approach by Council to fill the hole in Council finances resulted in an ill-conceived decision to sell a public reserve. Council was prepared for a community backlash and was aware of community views on this public reserve and yet proceeded anyway," Mark Sampson said.

The prime piece of Newcastle CBD real estate is for sale by Newcastle City Council by 'expressions of interest' which close Friday, 2 August 2013.

Mark Sampson explains the concerns that the local community have, "Essentially, Council has asked anyone who would like to buy Glovers Lane Reserve to tender an offer through an Expression of Interest which closes Friday 2pm."

"We have heard from the agent handling the sale that price is only one factor in who the land will be sold to."

"Our argument is that the land should never have been classified under the Local Government Act 1993-94 as 'operational' land."

"Even by 1994 the land had been used as a public reserve by the community for nearly 20 years! Council should have classified the land correctly as 'community' land."

"Today the assumption by Council is that the land has been an 'operational' asset held in perpetuity. But basically the Glovers Lane Reserve was put on Council radar after the Cooks Hill Garden Group lodged a submission to create a formal community garden here."

"The land alone has a valuation of over $800,000, so Council staff have offered it on a silver platter to Jeff McCloy and of course what do property developers that turn into Lord Mayors do ... they develop property!"

"So now a unique remnant of historic, green space in urban Cooks Hill gets put on the chopping block for no other good reason than that 'we (Council) need the money'!"

Correspondence from Newcastle City Council's Director of City Assets, Steve Edmonds, states, "Since the time the vacant land parcels identified as 29 & 31 Laman Street Cooks Hill were deemed no longer required for road widening purposes, the land has been held for investment purposes."

"In Council's current financial climate the land was identified as surplus to operational requirements and put forward to the Asset Advisory Committee, and subsequently Council itself, with a recommendation for disposal."

"The land earmarked for disposal has always been identified as 29 & 31 Laman Street Cooks Hill. It has never been dedicated, by Council or the Geographical Names Board of NSW, as 'Glovers Lane Reserve'."

Newcastle City Councillor, Michael Osborne, said, "It's a beautiful little space that the community have been using for many years. While the land hasn't gone through the formal process of being turned into a council public park but there is a question mark around its legal status."

"When the local government act was legislated (in 1993), all public land in the city had to be either operational or community land. If it wasn't specifically operational land then it became by default community land."

"I think Council made the wrong decision when it decided to sell this beautiful little park."

"Given the uncertainties, I think the decision making process shouldn't have been behind closed doors. Only the confidential things, like the valuation, should have been, everything else should have been in the open for the public to see."