Lane Cove Council Meeting July 2026 – Agenda Wrap Up

Lane Cove Council meets on Thursday 23 July 2026 at 7pm and this is your summary of the agenda from ITC.

How residents can have their say

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

Council meetings are live-streamed and available to watch online.

You can also attend in person at the Lane Cove Civic Centre, 48 Longueville Road, Lane Cove.

Public Forum is now held separately, on the Monday before the meeting. Register online no later than 10am on the day of the Public Forum, or submit a written address (500 words max) to [email protected] by midnight the day before the meeting.

Fur-Free Lane Cove

Councillors Rochelle Flood and Helena Greenwell have put forward a motion to prohibit the sale of animal fur products on council land and at council-run or council-hosted markets and events, including the Makers Markets and the Lane Cove Rotary Fair.

A resident who carried out spot checks at local markets, with training from Four Paws to identify real versus faux fur, found no fur currently being sold in Lane Cove. That means the ban would land with zero impact on existing traders, while putting a marker down before any sellers migrate from neighbouring councils. Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool, Inner West, City of Sydney, Newcastle, Blue Mountains and the Northern Beaches have already introduced similar bans.

The proposal carves out exemptions for taxidermy, artworks using animal materials, second-hand fur, and fur used in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural practice. Enforcement would be education-first, using existing market compliance staff rather than new resourcing.

Data centres: a global pact and a push for a moratorium

Councillor Rochelle Flood has tabled a notice of motion continuing council’s advocacy against the rapid growth of hyperscale data centres clustering in Lane Cove West, near homes, schools, the community nursery and local bushland.

The motion asks council to apply to sign the Global Urban Data Centres Pact, already joined by Sydney and Melbourne, which calls for data centres that are strategically integrated into cities, resource-efficient, accountable to communities and structured to share prosperity locally.

It also proposes a motion for the LGNSW Conference calling for a moratorium on new AI data centre projects until planning laws catch up on siting, renewable energy use, centralised compliance oversight and genuine community benefit arrangements, and seeks direct advocacy to federal ministers for the same outcome.

Sharing school sporting facilities to protect green space

Councillors Bridget Kennedy and Kathy Bryla have brought a motion on growing sporting capacity without losing open space, prompted by a NSROC-commissioned report that found the North Shore has virtually no undeveloped land left to convert into new sportsfields.

The motion proposes council write to the Department of Education and local Parents and Friends associations about community access to school sporting facilities outside school hours, including the netball courts at Lane Cove Public School, the sporting field at Greenwich Public School and facilities at Lane Cove West Public School, St Michael’s and St Ignatius’ College. It also asks council to investigate planning mechanisms, such as rooftop recreation space and bonus floor space incentives, to grow sporting capacity within new developments rather than by converting existing open space.

Protecting Badangi and Berrys Creek

Mayor Merri Southwood has brought a motion to formalise collaboration with North Sydney Council and Heritage NSW to address ongoing reports of sediment and possible pollution entering Berrys Creek, a watercourse running through the state heritage-listed Badangi parklands.

A similar proposal was defeated in 2024, but development activity in St Leonards South, which drains into the creek, has increased significantly since. The motion proposes a public register of pollution reports, ongoing monitoring of development sites and a report back to council in October.

Have your say: Burns Bay Reserve Draft Masterplan

After three years of consultation, council is being asked to publicly exhibit a draft masterplan for Burns Bay Reserve in Riverview.

Community consultation consistently found strong support for preserving the natural landscape and the off-leash dog area, alongside better drainage, creek health, a new playground and improved amenities. Three activation options were tested, from low impact through to a high-impact option with two multi-use courts and sportsfield lighting. The high-impact option was most popular overall, though older residents and nearby apartment dwellers leaned toward the lower-impact design.

If endorsed, the draft masterplan goes to six weeks of public exhibition, with the playground upgrade already funded in this year’s budget regardless of which option is ultimately adopted.

Watercraft storage: fees and a foreshore clean-up on the way

Following exhibition of the Draft Small Watercraft Storage Policy, council is being asked to adopt it, with the clearest message from submissions being that abandoned and unused boats, not the community’s registered vessels, are the real problem clogging the foreshore.

The policy introduces storage fees for the first time, ranging from $150 for a tie-up to $755 for a large locker for residents, with higher fees for non-residents. Griffith Park, Dunois Street and Woodford Bay will be the first areas cleaned up and brought under the new registration system, expected to start early in the new financial year.

Celebrating our own: the 2026 Citizenship Awards

Mayor Merri Southwood’s Mayoral Minute formally acknowledges the 2026 Lane Cove Citizenship and Neighbour Day Award winners, presented last month across 14 categories.

Greenwich’s Tom Lawson, founder of the Greenwich Village Games and a former councillor, was named Citizen of the Year. Other recipients included Lane Cove Swim Club’s Joshua Baker, sustainability lead Bernadette Riad, 12-year-old marine advocate Bella Garton, and Order of Australia recipients Rod Cooke and Penelope Gerstle. The full list of winners and their stories is well worth a read in the agenda papers.

Other items on the agenda

• A draft Data Breach Response Policy goes to six weeks’ public exhibition, setting out how council will handle any future breach of personal information.
• Council is asked to adopt a new Risk Appetite Statement, formally describing itself as “risk-averse” across most operations, with slightly higher tolerance for innovation, projects, reputation and service delivery risk.
• The long-planned pocket park extension between Areas 22/23 and 18/19/20 in St Leonards South moves ahead, funded by redirecting $166,000 originally earmarked for a Berry Road cul-de-sac that developers no longer need.
• Council is recommended to end its informal advertising arrangement with the Lane Cove Chamber of Commerce at Market Square, after a review found the last signed agreement expired in 2014.
• Council will consider submissions on the Model Code of Conduct for Councillors and determine attendance at the ALGWA and LGNSW conferences, including a proposed motion calling for transparent modelling of how a land value-based Emergency Services Levy would affect Lane Cove property owners.

What’s next

The full July 2026 Lane Cove Council agenda is available online. You can jump directly to the Fur-Free Lane Cove motion, the data centre advocacy motion, the Burns Bay Reserve Masterplan or the Small Watercraft Storage Policy.