A Sydney multimillionare has won the rights to host the world's premiere polo tournament, but has not yet obtained council approval to hold the competition on his land.
Peter Higgins, who owns the Sydney Polo Club, is seeking council approval to play the sport on his property near Richmond more than a year after he successfully bid to host the Polo World Championship.
But the impending arrival of the most prestigious event on the international polo circuit has brought neighbourhood tensions to flashpoint and a vociferous element opposed to Mr Higgins is threatening to bring down the event.
The sport of kings has been played for decades on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, though not all clubs have received formal permission from council.
Mr Higgins submitted his winning bid for the championships in partnership with Destination NSW, which hopes the event will bring 5000 visitors to the Hawkesbury and showcase the region to an international audience.
The Sydney Polo Club was a location in the filming of The Great Gatsby and has hosted numerous weddings, including that of the then federal Lindsay MP Fiona Scott.
Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres and local member Dominic Perottet celebrated when the Federation of International Polo announced in October last year that the Sydney Polo Club had defeated a US competitor to host the games.
"The XI FIP World Polo Championship will give this historic sport a great boost locally, and see the Hawkesbury's incredible polo fields and scenery broadcast around the world," Mr Ayres said.
But Mr Ayres declined to comment in the past week on whether he was aware at the time that Sydney Polo Club had not submitted a development application to host polo competitions. Destination NSW declined to comment on how much financial support it had provided the Sydney Polo Club, saying the deal was commercial in confidence.
"Sydney Polo Club has a long history of hosting polo events at its Richmond property," Destination NSW said in a statement.
"Due to a recent change to the Hawkesbury Local Environment Plan, Sydney Polo Club are undergoing a process with Hawkesbury City Council and the Department of Planning and Environment to enable polo to continue on this property.
"This process is being run independently of Destination NSW. As Hawkesbury City Council is supportive of polo in the region, Destination NSW believes a positive outcome will be achieved."
Mr Higgins said it was not necessary for approval to be obtained before submitting the bid.
"We don't need to do that," he said. "You win the bid and then go and put an application in. We will get the approval because there's the political will to give us the approval. There's only one person who's trying to agitate."
In recent times, bitter disputes have erupted between multimillionaires over the use of local land.
The Hawkesbury Local Environment Plan was changed in 2012 to narrow the range of permissible uses of the area, including that it only be used for "community" sporting activities.
Mr Higgins, who co-founded Mortgage Choice, was forced to shut down a weddings function centre on his property last year, leaving some brides without a venue just weeks before the big day.
He and three other neighbours have applied to rezone their properties for light industrial use, which would allow the world championships to be staged at the Sydney Polo Club. The proposed changes to the Local Environment Plan went on exhibition on Friday.
But some of the proposed changes – including a microbrewery, medical centre, permanent function centres and market – extend beyond the scope of the polo championships.
Former mayor Kim Ford said a temporary application for facilities to accommodate the polo championships would go through without incident were it not for the history of bad blood in the area.
"If Sydney Polo were just about playing polo there probably wouldn't be anything in it, but because they've had a function centre open and noise complaints and all this sort of thing, it's a neighbourhood dispute gone crazy."
Mr Higgins said the re-zoning application was separate to the development application he would need to run the polo championships, and he would be making another application.
"We don't need a DA to play polo there. What we do need a DA for us to run a major polo event."
Hawkesbury Council supported the proposed rezoning, including that recreational facilities be allowed for the purposes of equine and polo related activities only, with council consent.
"The planning proposal, in part, seeks to make polo events and function centres permissible on the site in order to allow associated development applications to be submitted to council," acting general manager Laurie Mifsud said.
