1 July 2026
A last-ditch attempt to overturn North Sydney Council’s decision to evict Kelly’s Place Children’s Centre from its Hume Street premises has failed, with Real Independents, Labor and Greens councillors combining to defeat a rescission motion moved by the two Liberal councillors.
The extraordinary meeting on Wednesday morning lasted barely 15 minutes, but exposed fresh tensions over the future of the long-running Crows Nest childcare centre, which is due to leave the council-owned Hume Street Park site by 31 December.
Cr Jessica Keen moved the rescission motion, seconded by Cr Efi Carr, after council on Monday night adopted a report confirming Kelly’s Place’s lease would not be extended beyond the end of the year and that the childcare building would not be retained as part of the stage two expansion of Hume Street Park.
The Monday decision cleared the way for council to proceed with the next stage of the park project, which is expected to deliver at least 2000 square metres of additional open space in the fast-growing Crows Nest and St Leonards precinct.
But Cr Keen opened Wednesday’s meeting by challenging whether the extraordinary meeting had been validly called, arguing the required notice period under the Local Government Act had not been met.
She said the adequacy of the notice went to due process, which was important for the community.
Mayor Zoe Baker rejected the challenge, saying the meeting had been properly convened as a matter of urgency because community consultation on the park was already under way and the rescission motion, if carried, could delay the project indefinitely.
Cr Baker said the meeting was properly held.
Cr Carr urged councillors to reconsider Monday’s decision, saying she was disappointed council was trading existing community infrastructure for open space when both could potentially coexist.
She said while there were other childcare places in the Crows Nest area, Kelly’s Place was a high-quality service and families should not simply be pushed towards commercial alternatives.
She said it would be unfair to lose a childcare centre of that quality and expect parents to find places in commercial centres.
But Greens councillor Angus Hoy, who had broken with the majority bloc on Monday night to support the Kelly’s Place campaign, refused to back the rescission.
Cr Hoy said he remained supportive of Kelly’s Place continuing and had proposed amendments on Monday that he believed would help the centre.
However, he said the rescission motion was the wrong mechanism.
“This rescission motion smacks of politics,” he said. “It is a cheap political stunt that does not reflect well on the movers.”
Cr Hoy said rescission motions should be reserved for cases where there was new evidence, unintended consequences or a procedural flaw in the original decision.
He said none of those tests had been met.
He said he had been disappointed by Monday’s decision, particularly because he believed its wording was stronger than necessary and appeared to close off the possibility of a further lease extension if circumstances later required one.
However, he said he did not believe Monday’s resolution could bind future decisions of the council and that a further lease extension would remain available if justified.
“I remain strong in my support for Kelly’s Place and sincerely hope a solution can be reached, but this is not the mechanism for doing so,” he said.
Cr Chris Holding, who moved the successful Monday night motion, said nothing in the rescission motion changed his position.
He said the rescission motion did not present any new information or arguments that had not already been considered during Monday night’s debate.
Cr Holding also rejected Cr Carr’s suggestion that the childcare centre and park could coexist on the site.
He said the issue had been dealt with clearly on Monday and he did not believe the two uses could be accommodated together.
He also said Kelly’s Place was not a council-run facility.
Cr Godfrey Santer also opposed the rescission, saying councillors wanted the best outcome for children but had to take account of the serious shortage of public open space in Crows Nest.
He said council had tried for years to offer alternatives to Kelly’s Place given the need for more public space in the area.
Cr Santer said council also had to consider the need for open space for children as they grew up, arguing that access to parkland was at least as important as the operation of a childcare centre.
He said the issue had been debated at length on Monday and the council now needed to move on.
“We all want to see the best possible outcome for the children. Let’s get on with the business of finding an alternative so that the citizens living in the Crows Nest area can also have public space,” he said.
“It is not either or. We can do both. Let’s get on with it.”
In reply, Cr Keen strongly rejected Cr Hoy’s claim that the rescission was a political stunt.
She said the motion was about finding a practical solution for Kelly’s Place, whether by integrating the centre into the park plan or transitioning it into another venue.
Cr Keen said children, families and working parents would be affected if the centre was forced to leave without a secure replacement.
She said families could not simply walk into another childcare centre and secure a place, with long waiting lists and quality care difficult to find.
She also criticised the fact families who attended Wednesday’s meeting were not allowed to address councillors.
She said they were passionate, wanted a solution and were asking council for help.
“What a disappointment. What a disaster. This council is a disaster,” Cr Keen said.
Cr Baker then put the rescission motion to the vote, where it was defeated.
The result leaves Monday night’s decision intact, confirming Kelly’s Place’s lease will end on 31 December and allowing council to continue progressing the Hume Street Park expansion.
The vote followed a lengthy debate on Monday in which Cr Baker argued the decision was ultimately about “the needs of a few against those of the many and the broader public interest”.
She said Kelly’s Place had been “on notice for 14 years” and that its lease had contained demolition clauses for a decade.
Opponents of the eviction argued council had created a false choice between childcare and open space, with Cr Hoy on Monday saying council should at least test whether the centre could be retained within the park design before forcing it out.
But Wednesday’s failed rescission means Kelly’s Place supporters have exhausted their immediate attempt to reverse the decision through the council chamber, shifting the focus back to whether council and the centre can identify a workable relocation before the end of the year.