Alternative site for Kelly’s Place not yet found
Kelly’s Place Children’s Centre lease will end on 31 December 2026 and will not be extended, after almost 40 years of operation.
The centre is due to close to make way for the Hume Street Park Stage 2 project. At a North Sydney Council meeting on 12 October, councillor Jessica Keen along with Crs Efi Carr and James Spenceley put forward a recission motion in a bid to get the lease extended for a further 12 months. The motion was lost, leaving Kelly’s Place staff and families disappointed.
“We’re all numb and exhausted. But we will be brave and enjoy our families and beautiful children until the end of the year,” Kelly’s Place director Katie Newton told
NL.
“North Sydney Council, 40 years ago, had the vision that a building, community and green space could co-exist and that’s why we have green grass on our roof and it is used. Could it be used more? One hundred percent. Council could have put planting boxes up there, they could have put seats and shade, but they haven’t.”
Councillor Keen told NL that she just wanted to ‘find a solution.’
“They’re just adamant that Kelly’s Place can’t remain. Can we go back and look at another option for relocation? Is it incorporation into the design? The new residents coming in will need open space…but they’re also going to need childcare. Can’t we incorporate it into the Hume Street Park design?” Cr Keen said.
Council might need to source alternative funding for the project after NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully threatened to pull the $9.3 million funding unless he is satisfied that North Sydney Council is assisting Kelly’s Place Children’s Centre to find an alternative site.
In a letter dated 4 September to Mayor Zoë Baker, Minister Scully said council’s ‘public silence’ on justifying or defending its decision not to extend the lease was ‘untenable.’
“I also request information from council as soon as possible on the progress of the commitment you indicated…to ‘assist Kelly’s Place with appropriate transition arrangements prior to the expiry of its lease,’” Minister Scully stated in the letter.
“Unless I am satisfied that council is meeting this commitment – especially in the context of its decision not to extend the lease beyond 31 December 2026 – I will consider cancelling the Hume Street Park Stage 2 project and allocating the funding to another project.”
Minister Scully also said none of the funding could be used for demolition of Kelly’s Place and that no construction works would begin until March 2027.
The mayor wrote to the minister on 9 October and said she was ‘deeply concerned’ by his tone in his letter and by the ‘apparent disregard for the extensive explanations, decisions and practical assistance already provided’ by council.
“Your description of council’s supposed public silence as ‘untenable’ is particularly insulting,” Mayor Baker said. “Council has repeatedly considered this matter in public meetings, explained the reasons for its decisions to our community and provided those explanations directly to you.
“Disagreement with council’s decision should not be characterised as a failure by council to explain it. Of greater concern is your proposal to consider cancelling Hume Street Park Stage 2 and redirecting the funding unless you are satisfied with council’s assistance to Kelly’s Place.”
In a Mayoral Minute at council’s meeting on 12 October, she said that open space was needed to support growing housing density.
“The NSW Government cannot reasonably expect councils and communities to accommodate accelerated housing growth while simultaneously threatening to withdraw funding for the very infrastructure necessary to make that growth sustainable and liveable.”
Willoughby MP Tim James said it was a ‘great shame and a tragedy.’
“I’m upset about it, I’m angry about it. Everyone’s willing to work with council to have the park but let’s have both.
“It’s an abject failure of local government to listen, understand, be responsive, be forward-looking, and recognise the needs of our community.”
