Two blocks of land and two different versions of events

The agreement would see the council take ownership from the RSL of the former Dubbo City Bowling Club, while the RSL would receive a block of council-owned land in Keswick Estate where a new club could be built. The RSL pulled out of the deal in September 2023.

Dubbo RSL Club general manager Gus Lico revealed to the Daily Liberal the "pivotal factor" in the club's decision to pull out of a land swap deal with council was the discovery the land they were promised was contaminated.

He said information about contamination on the Keswick Estate lot was "withheld" from the club by council staff "despite their prior knowledge".

However, Dubbo Regional Council CEO Murray Wood has called the claim "false" and said council had not done any testing on the site before the agreement was signed.

"At no time was there any information withheld from the RSL in relation to this matter," he said.

"Council had not conducted its own contamination tests or any assessments on the land, as that area of land was not slated for development at that time.

"For all stages of Keswick Estate, council undertakes contamination assessments as it moves through residential land because it is former agricultural land and this is standard practice."

On September 15, 2020, Dubbo RSL and council entered an agreement to swap the Dubbo City Bowling Club site for a 3.3 hectare parcel of undeveloped land in Keswick Estate.

The club hoped to use the land to construct a second RSL Club and sporting fields.

When the RSL notified council they would be scrapping the deal, a letter from the club's solicitor to council notifying them of the decision said the council had not fulfilled a condition to register a plan of subdivision of the Keswick land.

In an email to RSL management on January 17, 2020 - seen by the Daily Liberal - council staff said the site had not been tested and no remediation works had been undertaken.

The staff member said the onus was on the RSL Club to do whatever contamination investigations they deemed necessary and noted council had done the same at their own expense for the bowling club site.

"The RSL Club was obviously happy to proceed given the information they had been provided... and with more than enough time to have their consultants conduct any further testing they required," Mr Wood said.

In April, 2023, the RSL Club requested a meeting with council to discuss their concerns about an area of legacy landfill on the site.

The club was initially quoted more than $5 million to decontaminate the land but council advised how it could be done cheaper, bringing the cost down to $1.6 million.

"Council staff were able to provide them advice as to how to get a more appropriate cost by undertaking further studies with other consultants," Mr Wood said.

Asked about council's response, Mr Lico stood by his comments.

"Council would have known that the site was contaminated as staff there were aware. This could have saved us a lot of money earlier had we known," he said.

"Yes, it may have been up to us to find this out, but it did not show up with our consultants through the rezoning process, however it did show up when preparing for the DA stage and this could have been avoided had we known earlier.

"Why wouldn't the council come clean if they knew this? We are a community organisation and supposedly they work for and represent the community."

Despite the back and forth, a new deal looks like it will be going ahead after councillors agreed to buy the bowling club site for $1.5 million and sell the Keswick lot to the club for the same price during the closed section of the council meeting on Thursday, April 11.

The council plans to use the old bowling club site as part of the town's cultural precinct.