Lane Cove Council meeting November 2026: Tambourine Bay, Lime bikes and 40km/h streets

Lane Cove Council’s November meeting is on Thursday 19 November 2026 at 7pm. It’s a big one. Two separate plans for Tambourine Bay Park, marked parking bays for Lime bikes and a price tag for 40km/h streets in Central Ward are all on the table.

Councillors will also adopt a new Climate Emergency Plan, finalise the Burns Bay Reserve Masterplan and get the results of the annual resident satisfaction survey. Here’s what you need to know.

Tambourine Bay Park: two plans on the table

Tambourine Bay Park (also known as Tambourine Bay Reserve) sits on the foreshore between Riverview and Lane Cove. Two councillors have tabled separate motions about its future.

Councillor Kathy Bryla’s motion (read it here) focuses on the southern foreshore, the strip between the walking path and the water from the BBQ area down towards the Scout Hall. According to the motion, this area has changed over the past decade from open lawn used for picnics, play and dog walking into dense vegetation with no recreational access and limited views of the bay.

Council’s October 2026 plant survey found both native and non-native species in the area, including weeds. The motion notes this was one of the few waterfront spots in Lane Cove with level access close to a car park, making it easier for older residents, people with disability and families with prams.

The motion asks Council to:

• Clear non-native vegetation in the lower recreational part of the park, plus anything flagged after an arborist assessment, to open up light and views to the water. Significant native vegetation would be kept and works finished by April 2027
• Set up a community working group and workshop to shape a Maintenance and Optimisation Plan for the whole park
• Look at linking the playground, picnic and BBQ areas, lawns and paths, plus foreshore access for all abilities, the toilets, safety, parking and paths
• Present costed options to the community and Council in time for the 2028/29 budget
• Recruit more Bushcare volunteers, especially in Central Ward

Councillor Caleb Taylor’s motion (read it here) calls for a comprehensive masterplan to set a long-term vision for the park. It would cover maintenance, seating and picnic facilities, accessibility, walking paths and wayfinding, plus protection of bushland and the foreshore. Riverview residents, park users and community groups would be consulted, with funding for the masterplan considered in 2027/28 from general revenue or the Sustainability Levy.

What it means: Both motions promise community consultation. Councillors will decide on the night which approach to back, or whether to combine them.

Lime bikes: parking bays, complaints and what’s next

Lime bikes arrived in Lane Cove in July and they’re clearly being used. There were more than 5,000 trips in October by more than 1,700 riders, with about 180 bikes now in the area. The average trip is around 2km.

Council’s rangers logged about 21 complaints between July and early November. Bikes were reported fallen over, blocking access, clustered in one spot or left too long. Lime says over 96% of rides finish without a complaint, and it has issued 39 rider sanctions since launch. Riders get two warnings before a $15 relocation fee.

What residents said: Council’s recent survey drew 193 responses. Around 39% said little or nothing was working well, while 28% praised the convenience. Half asked for designated parking bays. Read the full report. The top problem spots named were the Wollstonecraft station footbridge and Smoothey Park area, Greenwich Point and the Greenwich Wharf approaches.

The plan: Councillors are asked to back investigating marked shared bike parking bays. Council would look first at existing No Stopping areas, then footpaths or off-street spots with room to spare. Taking car parking spaces would be a last resort.

The first bays would go where use is highest: the Lane Cove town centre, St Leonards, Greenwich ferry wharf and Galuwa Recreation Centre. Council is preparing a grant application to the NSW Sharing Scheme Grant Program, worth up to $200,000. At roughly $10,000 per bay (each holding up to 10 bikes), that would fund about 20 bays.

Key dates:

• 31 January 2027: Council can nominate a maximum fleet size for the area
• 1 March 2027: operator fleet caps apply
• Early 2027: State enforcement powers kick in, including fines for operators who don’t keep bikes in designated bays

Until then, report badly parked bikes to Lime first. Transport for NSW explains who to contact. Its target is to move bikes blocking footpaths or driveways within 3 hours. Council is also looking at a link on its website to report bikes that aren’t collected in time.

Private e-bikes and safety

A separate report updates Council’s e-bike safety campaign. It includes workshops at Synergy Youth Centre, a pop-up stall with Lime at The Canopy and new “Dismount Zone” signs in the Plaza.

The report also flags State changes worth knowing about if you’re buying an e-bike for Christmas. NSW is moving to a 250 watt European standard, and from 1 March 2029 only compliant e-bikes will be road legal. A minimum riding age is coming (an age between 12 and 16 is being considered). Police can now seize and destroy illegal e-bikes, with 36 seized on the Northern Beaches in September. Council recommends continuing the education campaign and improving cycling infrastructure, including separated cycleways through the Lane Cove Bike Plan, which Council hasn’t adopted yet (here’s what’s in the draft). Catch up on our guide to e-bike rules in Lane Cove.

NOTE: The Lane Cove Bike Plan isn’t on this month’s agenda. Public comment closed on 9 November and Council is reviewing the feedback. The final plan will come back to a future Council meeting for adoption, with December the earliest it could be.

Slower streets in Central Ward? Here’s the cost

Back in December 2024, Council unanimously voted to work towards 40km/h speed limits in part of Central Ward. That area covers Finlayson Street and the peninsula streets bounded by Epping Road, Longueville Road and the river, including Seville Street, Tambourine Bay Road, Carranya Road, William Edward Street and Arabella Street.

Quotes for the traffic study are now in:

• $30,500 for the original study area
• $40,000 for the whole of Central Ward

Staff warn a smaller boundary risks being knocked back by Transport for NSW, which prefers simple speed zones bounded by major roads, like the 40km/h zone in Lane Cove North. They suggest studying all of Central Ward or even the whole council area.

What it means: Don’t expect slower limits soon. The study isn’t funded, and the costs don’t include traffic calming or other works. Councillors are asked to consider it at their 2027 planning weekend, ahead of the 2027/28 budget.

Environment: climate plan, Burns Bay and Berrys Creek

New Climate Emergency Plan

Council is set to adopt its Climate Emergency Plan 2026-2030 (agenda report), replacing the Climate Resilience Plan. It has four themes covering the community, natural environment, built environment and Council itself, with 58 actions costed from low to high.

Only eight submissions came in during exhibition. One led to a new action to keep monitoring the health of bushland and waterways as the climate changes. The plan would take effect on 1 December 2026, funded through Council budgets, the Sustainability Levy and grants.

Burns Bay Reserve Masterplan

The revised Burns Bay Reserve Masterplan is back for adoption after councillors deferred it in September. Changes include:

• A bigger boundary taking in the full “panhandle” and the surrounding bushland edges, with new native planting
• An environmentally sensitive bike and walking connection to Linley Point, plus extra bike parking
• Extended fencing along the Tannery Creek canal to keep kids, dogs and balls out of the creek banks while still allowing wildlife through
• Rain gardens and planted filter areas to clean stormwater, plus ideas to renaturalise the creek and seawall with saltmarsh

Detailed water design work is costed at $29,084, catchment plans for Burns Bay and Stringybark Creek at $16,750 to $38,250 and design work for the mouth of Tannery Creek at around $89,000. None of it is funded yet. Staff recommend considering it in the 2027/28 budget.

The plan also includes a full-size multi-purpose court, added after consultation showed demand for casual netball space. Catch up on the draft masterplan here.

Protecting Badangi and Berrys Creek

Berrys Creek runs through the heritage-listed Badangi parklands, including Smoothey Park, Greendale Park, Holloway Reserve and Manns Point. It takes stormwater from the St Leonards South development area.

Council has written to North Sydney Council, Heritage NSW and Sydney Water seeking support. Heritage NSW and Sydney Water haven’t replied yet. A register of pollution complaints is now on Council’s St Leonards South webpage, with more detail planned. Rangers check sediment controls on building sites, and fines run up to $30,000 under environmental laws.

Development and planning

Developers who offer a planning agreement (a deal to provide money, land or public works alongside a development) will now pay a $5,000 assessment fee (agenda report). Council hasn’t charged for this before. One late submission suggested a $10,000 fee, but staff recommend sticking with $5,000.

Development also tops the list of resident frustrations. Control of development scored just 62% satisfaction in this year’s survey, the lowest of any service and below the Sydney metro benchmark of 69%. Council notes some of this reflects frustration with State planning decisions outside its control.

The budget review also notes the State Government’s new Community Participation Plan changed DA notification requirements from 1 September, cutting Council’s notification fee income by an estimated $45,000.

Council’s report card: 91% satisfied

The annual Community Satisfaction Survey phoned 400 residents in September. Half were picked at random and half came from a list of people who had contacted Council this year. Overall, 91% are satisfied, up from 88% last year and above the 87% benchmark from 31 other councils.

Top scorers:

• Special events: 100%
• Libraries: 99%
• Events at The Canopy: 98%
• Waste and recycling: 96%, its best result in four years despite the food waste rollout
• Sports fields, parks and playgrounds: 94%

Room to improve: control of development (62%), traffic management (74%), tree management (78%, up from 71%), consultation (80%) and roads and footpaths (82%). Residents named waste and recycling (27%) and sport and recreation facilities (24%) as the services they value most.

The 2025/26 Annual Report is also tabled. Highlights include more than 165,000 visits to Galuwa Recreation Centre in its first six months, food waste collection for 6,000 homes and the Library’s busiest year ever with 543,000 visitors.

The money: back in surplus

The first quarterly budget review shows Council’s day-to-day result improving to a forecast $488,000 surplus, up from the $253,000 deficit originally budgeted. Capital spending jumps $9.5 million to $24.3 million, mostly projects carried over from last year.

Items that caught our eye:

• $2.81 million for the River Road shared path, including a $1 million grant
• $70,000 for playground safety improvements after an audit
• $30,000 towards relocating the Lane Cove Cenotaph
• $697,000 extra for the domestic waste contract, partly due to fuel levies
• $572,000 in leave payouts for staff who took redundancies in the restructure
• A $48,000 Ventemans Reach Sustainability Levy project is not going ahead

Council’s audited 2025/26 accounts show a $14.9 million surplus ($0.9 million excluding capital grants) and a clean audit. One flag: spending on renewing buildings and infrastructure fell below the benchmark, and Council says more funding will be needed long term. You can make a submission on the accounts until 26 November.

Have your say: AI, disability access and CCTV

Draft AI policy: Council wants to set ground rules for how staff use artificial intelligence, covering privacy, accountability and telling people when they’re dealing with AI. It goes on exhibition for 6 weeks on Have Your Say Lane Cove if approved (agenda report). Council also notes it’s receiving more AI-written letters from residents, some containing inaccuracies that weren’t checked before sending.

Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2027-2030: Over 200 people helped shape the draft plan, which covers accessible footpaths, parks, buildings, events and jobs. It goes on exhibition for 6 weeks on Have Your Say Lane Cove alongside an updated Disability Access Policy (agenda report).

CCTV policy: Council’s first single policy for its CCTV cameras is set for adoption. Two submissions were received, and the policy commits to community consultation before any new camera scheme or major change.

Kindy Cove turns 50

A Mayoral Minute from Mayor Merri Southwood celebrates 50 years of Kindy Cove. It began with a community petition and opened in May 1976 with 53 children and 10 staff. More than 2,200 children have been through its doors since. Read our story on the birthday celebrations.

The 30 October celebration included a smoking ceremony, cupcakes and a new public artwork of three cartwheeling children at the entrance. Updated Kindy Cove governance policies are also up for adoption, with no submissions received.

Also on the agenda

• Code of conduct: two complaints about councillors were made in 2025/26. Both were investigated externally and resolved, at a cost of $8,000
• Lane Cove Festival @ Sydney Fringe drew around 13,000 attendances across 50 events
• Council’s nursery gave away 4,331 free native plants in the last quarter
• A contract has been signed for stage 1 electrification of the Lane Cove Aquatic Centre

2027 council meeting dates (agenda report). All are Thursdays at 7pm, with the Public Forum on the Monday before:

• 18 February, 18 March, 29 April, 27 May, 24 June, 22 July
• 19 August, 23 September, 21 October, 18 November, 9 December

April’s Public Forum moves to Tuesday 27 April because of the Anzac Day public holiday.

How to have your say

• Public Forum: Monday 16 November. Register online by 10am on the day. See the Public Forum guidelines.
• Written address: up to 500 words to [email protected] by midnight Wednesday 18 November.