Lake Macquarie City Council said it was doing all it could to remove the asbestos and repair the historic building, but admitted it had yet to develop a remediation plan.

Friends of Rathmines president Alec Howard said no explanation had been offered to the community about the delays.

The council said its priority had been to remove contents from the building and complete a contaminated materials survey.

“Council expects the survey to be completed by the end of July, and will then work towards finalising the remediation plan,” a spokesperson for the council said.

Council defended its handling of the matter, and the delays.

“Council has made all efforts to expedite the project in a fast and efficient manner, while complying with legislation,” they said.

“Initial steps such as the cleaning of contents had to be complete before the survey could commence, and sequential steps will follow. We are working to complete the refurbishment project, which will bring the hall up to current standards, as soon as possible.”

The hall was closed in October 2015, and has remained fenced off since then.

Mr Howard described the council explanation as “piffle”.

“Each time we go down there, which is almost daily, we don’t see any activity at all,” he said.

“Not only that, a few months back the council said that everything was on target [with the remediation work]. Well, if they have no schedule, that would be pretty right.”

Mr Howard, a former builder, said due process must be observed when dealing with asbestos.

“But I’d have been stone broke by now if that was [my project], because there’s nothing happening there.”

Council will start to remove the asbestos from the building once the contaminated materials survey is completed. Design work for the refurbishment will follow.

Funds for the work have been proposed for the 2017/2018 budget.