Consent for Coles in Neutral Bay divides councillors, community

Continued from Page 1 ing building as it is, which will leave us with a poor loading dock solution and a building that is actually at the end of its useful life,” Atkins said.

“The second option is to propose to develop a site and deliver a new town plaza and integrate a community car park and a world-class supermarket. It has long been a strategic objective of this council to deliver a new heart for Neutral Bay and this is a chance to bring this vision to life. This is the first step. So to summarise, providing Coles’ owners consent will provide us the opportunity to further explore the design and delivery possibilities of the plaza proposal with the community. We want to preserve the village feel and develop a world-class shopping centre for Neutral Bay customers and the community,” he added.

Atkins also had assurances for concerned local retailers. He said: “Neutral Bay Chamber of Commerce has made that very clear to us that part of this has to be a consideration of them being able to trade and us being able to stage car parking during the development, to preserve their right to trade and we acknowledge that that is part of the consideration that the council will be reviewing and determining in the future once we have to go with this proposal.”

But the CEO of local property owner Arkadia, Ric O’Connell, said: “What is it Coles ultimately want to do? They want to expand their car park over 144 car spaces, dressed up as a council car park, dressed up as a local community plaza.”

“You are kicking off a process when your own (planning) process isn’t even done, it makes no sense, whatsoever. Starting a new process before your own process is done, is just frankly the wrong thing to do … Why wouldn’t you take the time? There’s no rush. Coles will always be there. They can develop their own land right now and they can have the car parking that they’re (currently) allowed.”

What Councillors Say

Four of the ten councillors—Crs Spenceley, Lepouris, Gibson and Mutton— are opposed to the grant of consent to Coles, and attempted to move a recission motion against the original approval, which failed on the same numbers.

Cr James Spenceley told the Sun that the question is simple for him.

“If a neighbour shows up at your door and asks you to sign a DA submission to include your property but gives you no details on the DA, who would actually sign that? Our council just did. I fully support and encourage the development of the Grosvenor Lane carpark into a plaza. But it needs to come after a responsible process,” he said.

He told the last Council meeting: “I am in support of something happening in this area. I just want it to be done with good governance, with good process and with great community consultation and with protections in for the small businesses. Now I ran a public company, I know how public companies work. If I was Coles, I’ll be sitting there going, fantastic, we’ll get them to agree, we’ll do all this and then we’ll save some money on the bill by digging the car park out, and we’ll wind up with closing the businesses down for four years, not two years and we end up with 18 cafes around the Coles. That would be a fantastic result for Coles.”

Cr MaryAnn Beregi, summing up the arguments in favour of granting consent to Coles, said: “Coles have come to us and asked the council to give owner’s consent to move forward with a DA, which incorporates the plaza that we have been working towards for years. And yes, there are... they’ve got incentives. Funny that, that’s how business works. They bought a site and they take it over at the end of next year. And yes, they could just put in a DA on their site, just on their site, and we lose an opportunity. We do not lose any control by just allowing the process of granting owner’s consent. And at the same time, any other developer can put in a DA as well. The point is, is that this has been something on our agenda for years, for the community.”

Beregi continued: “I will, however, say to the small businesses that we understand change is difficult. We understand that, you know, and we all shop at your shops. That’s what we do. We live in our community, but you know that change is coming. And the best thing to do is to get involved. Go and speak as Councillor (Shannon) Welch said, come to the meetings, go and visit Coles. Come and speak to council officers, but we are going to move forward.”

Earlier, Cr Welch said: “Council owns a proportion of the land which will be the subject of the proposal, the car park. And therefore retains full control over the future of the proposal. Regardless of the owner’s consent for the DA, or even approval of the DA, council effectively has veto powers if negotiations do not proceed satisfactorily. I’ve sat here tonight and I’ve listened to so many of the local business owners and I can really feel the angst that’s going on. Mr Atkins from Coles has said that he’s willing to hear your concerns. He’s going to be talking at a number of precinct meetings. I really suggest that you negotiate or you talk with Coles because they’re willing, they’ve said it.”

If and when Coles submits a DA it won’t be ruled on directly by North Sydney Council, but by the Sydney North Planning Panel.

Meanwhile, Council officers are recommending that councillors oppose a planning proposal by Fabcot acting for Woolworths at its nearby Rangers Rd site. This would see a part six and part eight story development with a supermarket, retail, residential and commercial premises with a 1,000 sqm plaza and 88 public car spaces.

This recommendation is, in part, because “is inconsistent with ...the objectives of Council’s renewed Study for the Neutral Bay Town Centre” which is still under development.

The Sun Says…

One of the few international television series set in Sydney’s North Shore has begun weekly telecast on the Ten Network.

“North Shore” tells the story of the death of a UK politician’s daughter in Sydney Harbour, the ensuring investigation by Australian and UK detectives, and the political intrigue which the death inspires.

We would love to be able to report that the combination of a gripping story and eye-candy scenery may conspire to turn Kirribilli Avenue into Sydney’s own version of Ramsay Street.

Alas, we do not expect that to be the case.

North Shore is worthy enough, but the production and characterisations are less than stellar, particularly the “chip-onher-shoulder” attitude of the local female detective.

And there is little to actually show that it was made in the area, except for a seconds-long exterior shot of the Harry Seidler office building in Milsons Point, standing in as a police station.

There is one amusing mention though where a visiting UK detective is informed by a local that Sydney’s North Shore is akin to London’s Chelsea.

We’re expecting a bunch of extras masquerading as Neutral Bay’s version of the Sloane Rangers to burst forth in future episodes.

Regrettably though, we will need to remain content in the reality that the most successful TV series set in Sydney’s North remains Skippy, albeit entirely shot in a national park with little to show of the nearby city.

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