16°C |
Wednesday September 23, 2026 
22 September 2026
NSW planning minister Paul Scully has threatened to cancel the $9.3 million Hume Street Park expansion unless North Sydney Council satisfies him that it is supporting families affected by the impending closure of Kelly’s Place Children’s Centre.
In a strongly worded letter to mayor Zoe Baker, Scully also accused the council of failing to publicly “explain, justify, or defend” its decision not to extend the childcare centre’s lease beyond December 31.
“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 also consider cancelling the Hume Street Park Stage 2 project and allocating the funding to another project,” he wrote.
The letter, signed on September 4, followed a political dispute over responsibility for the possible closure of Kelly’s Place, which has operated from the council-owned site in Crows Nest for about 40 years.
North Sydney Council resolved on June 29 not to renew the centre’s lease. However, the state government is funding and controlling the adjoining Hume Street Park Stage 2 project, which could ultimately encompass the centre’s site.
Scully said no construction work would begin before March 2027 and none of the state government’s $9.3 million funding could be used to demolish the centre.
“If the Council, as the existing landowner, decides to proceed with the demolition of the facility, it will be responsible for the costs,” he wrote.
The minister said his department was considering the council’s report on community consultation and would prepare two concept designs: one retaining childcare services alongside the expanded public space and another without the centre.
The undertaking effectively postpones any physical work until after the March 2027 state election.
Scully told a parliamentary budget estimates hearing last month that “not one blade of grass will be touched” before the election and repeatedly argued that responsibility for Kelly’s Place rested with the council as landowner and lessor.
Opposition upper house MP Chris Rath challenged that position, pointing out that Scully had acknowledged the project’s design, timing and delivery were decisions for the minister.
“The alternate proposal that doesn’t include a childcare centre would spell the end of this very Kelly’s Place Children’s Centre,” Rath said, adding that the centre had a waiting list of 140 families.
Scully responded that the state government was “happy for it to remain” but could not guarantee its future because it did not own the property or control the lease.