Lane Cove Council March 2025 Meeting

By
Jacky Barker
-

The Lane Cove Council March 2025 Meeting will be held on Thursday, 20th March 2025, at 7.00 pm.

Residents can write to councillors about any agenda item or issue. If you use the email address – [email protected], your email will go to all councillors.

Council meetings are live-streamed and viewable via the webcast on this website.

You can also attend the Lane Cove Council meeting in person.  The Council chambers are located on the ground floor of the Lane Cove Civic Centre 48 Longueville Road Lane Cove.

Public members can address the councillors for a time limit of three minutes per person (in-person or virtually) during the public forum segment of the Ordinary Council Meeting. Register by using the online form no later than midnight, on the day prior to the Ordinary Council Meeting.

The public forum provides an opportunity to address only. It is not a forum for debate or response from Councillors.

Mayoral Minute

Mayoral Minute – Australian Local Government Association Campaign – Put Our Communities First Recommendation

The Australian Local Government Association has launched the Put Our Communities First campaign, which advocates for new federal funding to be distributed to all councils on a formula basis, similar to the Commonwealth’s Roads to Recovery Program or the previous Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. This will ensure that every council and community benefits and supports local decision-making based on local needs.

ALGA has developed free campaign resources that can be adapted and used by all councils to ensure a consistent and effective approach.

Participating in a national advocacy campaign does not preclude this council from advocating on additional local needs and issues, but it will strengthen the national campaign and support all 537 Australian local governments.

The five national funding priorities have been determined by the ALGA Board–comprised of representatives from each of Australia’s state and territory local government associations–and align with key national priorities.

These five funding priorities are:

  • $1.1 billion per year for enabling infrastructure to unlock housing supply,
  • $500 million per year for community infrastructure,
  • $600 million per year for safer local roads,
  • $900 million per year for increased local government emergency management capability and capacity, and
  • $400 million per year for climate change adaptation.

Such support is to be distributed across all councils, on a formula-basis, similar to the way Financial Assistance Grants and Roads to Recovery funding have been provided for many years.

Mayor Merri Southwood is seeking Councillors’ support for the following recommendation

RECOMMENDATION

 

That Council:

1.       supports the national federal election funding priorities identified by the Australian Local government Association (ALGA);

2.       supports and participates in the Put Our Communities First federal election campaign; and

3.       writes to local federal members of parliament, all known electoral candidates in the local federal electorates and the President of ALGA expressing support for ALGA’s federal election funding priorities.

Notices of Motion

2 Notice of Motion – Bus Privatisation Impacts and the Auditor General’s Report Recommendation    

Councillor Flood has tabled a notice of motion to advocate for the deprivatisation of Region 7 Buses.  The Region 7 buses are operated by Busways pursuant to a contract arrangement with Transport for NSW.  When the contract was entered into it was called a franchise arrangement by the former Liberal State Government.

Councillor Flood has included the following in her notice of motion:

“There have been a number of reports that have identified the significant issues with our current bus services, the most recent of which being the Auditor-Generals Report into Bus Contracts in Metropolitan Sydney.

This damning report found that “Transport for NSW is not effectively managing contracts to ensure that operators are meeting contracted obligations and customer needs” and further that “Operators are not consistently meeting their performance obligations for on-time running, cancelled trips and customer complaints.”

Looking in detail at some of the key performance metrics – it is expected that 95% of services run on time. On time running (OTR) targets were hit less than 15% of the time during the audited period of January 2023-May 2024. Looking specifically at Region 7, they only hit their KPI for OTR for one month in the 2023-2024 financial year. Cancelled services were found to be problematic across the board, with the Auditor General finding that from January 2023 to May 2024, operators did not meet the KPI in 79.6% of instances. In fact, Region 7 was the worst performer by weighted average across all key performance indicators during the period examined for the Auditor General’s Report.”

Councillor Flood is asking councillors to support the following resolution:

RECOMMENDATION

 

That Council:

1.       Notes the poor performance of busways (North Shore) in the recently released Auditor General’s report into bus contracts in Metropolitan Sydney.

2.       Writes to the NSW Minister for Transport and Transport for NSW:

a)    Expressing concern at the Auditor General’s findings and advocating for the region 7 bus contracts to be cancelled and returned to public operation as soon as possible,

b)    Inquiring as to what interim measures Transport for NSW can implement to improve bus reliability and connectivity in the interim, and

c)    Include in correspondence evidence of local impacts including complaints that Council has received through the bus service reporting portal.

3.       Writes to the President of Northern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (NSROC) to request the issue of poor bus services following privatisation in the lower north short region be tabled for discussion to further investigate joint advocacy options to improve the region’s bus services, particularly in light of new findings from the Auditor General’s report.

 

 

3 Notice of Motion – Planning for Water Sensitive Urban Design Principles and Greater Water Reuse to be implemented in Water Catchment Areas. Recommendation

Councillors Kennedy and Bryla have tabled a notice of motion calling for the development of “Water Catchment Plans” for the Stringybark Reserve and Burns Bay Reserve catchment areas in Lane Cove. The Councillors would like is to have the plans available for implemented in conjunction with the reserve master plans for catchment areas. To support this, develop and implement an education program around Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) and maximise water reuse, including how these practices can lead to enhanced sustainability and environmental resilience in Lane Cove.

Councillors have included the following reference sites and noted:

“With a growing population and increasing development, addressing rising water consumptionn and stormwater runoff is essential. Several councils are leading the way in WSUD adoption, providing inspiration for Lane Cove’s continued efforts, including:”

Byron Bay

https://www.byron.nsw.gov.au/Council/Plans-Strategies/Policies/Water-Sensitive-Urban-Design-Policy

Blacktown Council

https://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/Plan-build/Stage-2-plans-and-guidelines/Stormwater-management- and-water-sensitive-urban-design-WSUD/Water-sensitive-urban-design-WSUD

Ballina Shire

https://issuu.com/ballinashirecouncil/docs/healthy_waterways_program_2021

In addition, Sydney Water have a good set of introductory guidelines to reference:

https://www.sydneywater.com.au/content/dam/sydneywater/documents/water-sensitive-urban-design.p df

Councillors Kennedy and Bryla are asking councillors to vote on the following resolution:

RECOMMENDATION

 

That Council:

1.   Invite a member from the Sydney Water Business Development team to present to key council staff and Councillors on the work they are undertaking,

2.   Provide a report to Council on resourcing and funds required to implement the actions below:

a)    Engage an external consultant to produce Water Catchment Plans for Stringybark Creek and Burns Bay Reserve that:

i)     Outline targets to achieve water management targets typically covering:

·    Water quality/pollution reduction targets

·    Runoff volume to protect local waterways from erosion and degradation

·    Urban/Waterway Outcome targets in terms of biodiversity and urban cooling

ii)     Provide a timeline to achieve these targets,

iii)    Describe the methods to achieve the targets,

3.       Organise a meeting with the broader stakeholders who may assist with grant funding and knowledge sharing for Item 2. For example:

a)    Representatives from adjoining catchment areas including Parramatta River catchment group and Lane Cove River councils,

b)    Representative from Department of Climate Change, Energy and Environment and Water (DCCEEW) NSW who are working on an integrated water management framework, a recycled water road map and Water Sensitive Urban Design Policy,

c)    Sydney Water and other agencies,

4.       Instigate a new communication engagement strategy with workshops and campaigns:

a)    to raise community awareness on how we can keep our waterways clean, as well as promote rebates Council offers for rainwater capture,

b)    to raise awareness about the benefits of WSUD among residents and businesses,

c)    to encourage community participation in water-sensitive initiatives, including optimising on-lot stormwater retention infrastructure already in place,

5.       Ensure the communication engagement strategies also target residences and businesses in the related two catchment areas of this motion; and

6.       Investigate how the current On The Verge program could be expanded to include bioswales for verges that are on contour.

 

Officers Report for Information

4 Food Organics and Waste Services Update 

This officer’s report outlines the need for Lane Cove Council to implement a food organics collection service (FOGO) by July 1, 2030, in alignment with the NSW Waste and Sustainable Strategy 2041.  The NSW government has mandated that all councils must implement FOGO collection by July 1, 2030, to reduce food waste to landfill and achieve net zero emissions from organics in landfill. Sydney is facing a significant landfill capacity shortage by 2030 (“landfill cliff”), with limited new facilities planned. There’s also a projected shortfall in facilities for processing food and garden organics.   

 In July 2024, Lane Cove Council resolved to prioritize researching and implementing a council-wide food collection service and to brief the new council on regional waste practices.   

This report summarizes a presentation given to the council in February 2025 and seeks endorsement for council staff to begin discussions with existing waste contractors about implementing FOGO.

Food collection services can be delivered as either Food Organics (FO) services, or Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) services.

Initial modelling demonstrates that a FO service would deliver superior outcomes due to the ability to capture energy from the anaerobic digestion process of the disposal facility, minimising contamination by separating the food and garden organics streams and continuing to capitalise on the low gate fee for garden organics.

Funding has been received from the NSW EPA under their Joint Procurement Fund for Lane Cove and Hunters Hill Councils to jointly undertake the below activities to work towards implementation of a food organics service;

  • A bin reconciliation to ensure data accuracy of on-ground services which is critical for planning service rollouts; and
  • Legal services for contract review and negotiations that will achieve formal pricing to complete the financial modelling required to secure a preferred service model.

Lane Cove Council will receive a future report outlining the outcomes of these activities and the information required to endorse a preferred service model and implementation plan.

Initial modelling demonstrates that a FO service would deliver superior financial and environmental outcomes. A further report will be brought to Council for consideration and endorsement following contract negotiations.

RECOMMENDATION

That Council:

1.       Note the information provided in the report, and

2.       Endorse the next steps as outlined in this report to work towards the implementation of a food organics service.

 

ITC Note

Lane Cove Council has let ITC know that contractors will be checking all the garbage, recycling, and green bins at every house and apartment in the area. They want to make sure they know how many bins everyone has and if they’re in good shape. This check will happen between next week (starting March 17th) and mid-April 2025. LCC wanted to let people know that they are approved contractors – so in other words be alert not alarmed.

They’re doing this to keep track of how many of each type of bin there are, so they can make garbage collection more efficient and plan for future waste management.
Workers from a company called Know Waste, hired by the Council, will be going around and counting the bins. They’ll start early, around 5:00 AM on collection days, so they can check the bins right before they’re emptied. The Council appreciates everyone’s help and is working to make their services better.

5 Addressing Gambling Harm and the Impact of Electronic Gaming Machines in Lane Cove Recommendation    

The officer’s report sets out a transition plan to gradually remove poker machines from council owned venues, restrict gambling advertising, and enhance harm minimisation initiatives. The plan aligns with the Council’s community strategic priorities and ensures a balanced approach that considers both social responsibility and venue sustainability.

The officer’s report provides an overview of actions taken following the July 2024 Council resolution including participation in Gamble Aware Week last October, the development of a webpage to support anyone in our community who may have a problem with gambling, and the development of a new draft policy ready for community consultation.

A draft Gambling Harm Minimisation Policy (included as AT-1) has also been developed, reinforcing Council’s commitment to gradually phasing out electronic gaming machines (EGMs) from Council-owned venues and supporting harm reduction efforts. This will be achieved through:

  • Phasing out EGMs as lease and licensing agreements are renewed.
  • Engaging with leaseholders to transition towards EGM-free venues.
  • Supporting gambling harm minimisation services, ensuring those affected by gambling addiction can access help when needed.
  • Raising awareness about gambling harm through annual initiatives such as GambleAware Week, social media campaigns, and other community education opportunities.

Councillors are being asked to vote on a draft policy go out for community consultation.  The draft policy is here.

6 Relocation of the Lane Cove Cenotaph Recommendation

​In April 2024, Council considered relocating the Lane Cove Cenotaph. A report in October 2024 presented three options:​retain its current location, move to the Plaza garden bed or The Canopy.​ The decision was deferred for a workshop with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the local RSL sub-branch.

This workshop occurred in February 2025. The current recommendation is to enhance the War Memorial and for it to remain at its current site. Representatives from the Returned and Services League Sub-branch and the Department of Veterans Affairs were present and could discuss the options in detail with the Councillors.

The discussion evaluated three potential locations and visual representations for the options. Several concerns were raised regarding the proposed relocation of the Lane Cove Cenotaph. The primary issue was the high risk of structural damage, as the monument’s original construction method remains unknown.

Relocation would require removing the plinth due to space constraints, diminishing the Cenotaph’s presence. The surrounding infrastructure at The Canopy and Lane Cove Plaza could also overshadow the memorial, reducing its prominence. In particular the locations removed the surrounding bollards that help the community maintain a reasonable distance from the memorial. The proximity of play equipment and spaces puts the memorial at risk from children climbing the structure.

The process of considering the Lane Cove Cenotaph relocation has been valuable in highlighting the significance of the site. It has provided an opportunity to reflect on ways to document, enhance, and improve the space for meaningful appreciation and remembrance.

Councillors are being asked to vote on the following resolution:

RECOMMENDATION

That Council:

1.       Receive and note the investigation into the potential relocation of the Lane Cove Cenotaph is now formally closed;

2.       Confirm that the Lane Cove Cenotaph will be maintained in its current location; and

3.      Note that opportunities to enhance the documentation, presentation, and community education surrounding the Cenotaph will be pursued within the cultural programs budget and through relevant grant funding applications over the next four years

 

7 Traffic Committee – 18 February 2025 Recommendation    Minute

The Traffic Commitee made the following recommendations:

  • Permanent no parking of boats/trailers on the roads boarding the Kingsford Smith Oval
  • Install signage as shown below for ‘No Trucks Over 3t on Tambourine Bay Road and Coxs Lane

  • Installation of traffic safety measures on River Road West –  The Officer’s report includes the following:
    “There were 10 reported crashes between Tambourine Bay Road and Austin Street. The TfNSW database categorised these crashes as, Loss of Control, Lane Changing, Off Carriageway, Rear Ends and a Head On. There was one serious injury crash, five minor injury crashes and three noncasualty crashes. Based on the crash statistics the following projects have been proposed along the section of River Road from Tambourine Bay Road to Austin Street.
    • Upgrade the road surface to a high-level non-skid surface.
    • Install medians to restrict or control access at the intersections of Morrice Street, Barina Road and Warraroon Road.
    • Install road feature signs for crests and dips etc.
    • install ‘No Right Turn’ signs and 50km/hr repeater speed signs.
    • Install protected right turn lane, S-Lane, and intersection channelisation at Warraroon Road
  • Markings to improve safety in Taylors Lane – Install the two left-turn arrows (W1-1(L) on the southern approach to the bend and paint a single centreline around the bend.

 

Regulatory Sign Posting and Linemarking

New Look Before You Cross Signs

 

   8 Naming the Lane Cove Sport and Recreation Centre Recommendation    

With construction of the Lane Cove Sport and Recreation Centre remaining on track for completion by late 2025, Lane Cove Council has decided its time to finalise the permanent name for the facility.

Lane Cove Council has previously sought community input into the naming of other projects such as Wadanggari Park and The Canopy.

The Lane Cove Sport and Recreation Centre has been used as the project name for the construction of the new eight court multi-sport facility at 180 River Road, Lane Cove. The facility also provides for a range of other uses including multi-purpose community rooms, a bistro/dining venue as well as a golf pro shop and amenities.

The current stage of the construction process requires decisions to be made for signage and other permanent features which would incorporate the facility’s name.

Lane Cove locals will be invited to make suggestions from 21 March 2025, including those who have subscribed to stay updated on the project throughout its construction.

The suggestions will be reviewed and considered alongside the various requirements for the project with Councillors provided with a briefing on the final name selection.

9 Lane Cove Library 70th Birthday CelebrationsRecommendation

Councillors have been given a briefing on the Lane Cove Library 70th Birthday Celebration – read ITC article about the birthday celebration here.

10 Launch of the Pottery Lane Performance Space Recommendation    

Councillors have been given a briefing on the Lane Cove Library 70th Birthday Celebration – read ITC article about the opening night celebrations here.

11 Council Snapshot February 2025 Recommendation    

Lane Cove Council publishes a monthly snapshot, which sets out what has been happening over the month, from development applications, parking fines, waste and landfill reduction reports, and reports on upcoming footpath maintenance.

Below are some of the stats of interest for Febuary 2025.