0°C | Wednesday January 21, 2026 
1 May 2023
By Grahame Lynch
Four North Sydney councillors are combining efforts to rescind a motion passed allowing the Coles supermarket chain to submit a development application that incorporates the council’s Neutral Bay Grosvenor Lane car park and surrounding streets.
Coles previously bought the site currently occupied by Woolworths at Grosvenor Lane. Woolworths is to vacate the premises from November next year and Coles has indicated it intends to re-develop the site with a residential apartment block on top. It also plans to extend its underground carpark over the Grosvenor Lane boundary under the existing council carpark. This in turn would allow the street level carpark above to be converted into open space. At this stage, there has been no public release of what Coles intends to do by way of design or schematics.
Council voted last week to grant “owner’s consent” to Coles to incorporate the Grosvenor St carpark in its plan, with all six supporters – Mayor Zoe Baker and Crs Beregi, Bourke, Santer, Welch and Lamb – speaking in favour of the idea. In speaking to the motion, supporters positioned the move as uncontroversial and certainly not abrogating the right of council to veto or amend any application that may come from Coles in future.
However, the motion was clearly polarising. A number of local business owners expressed their opposition to the Coles plan at the meeting, particularly those who rely on customers accessing the public car parking in the lane. There were concerns that a new plaza and car park would put them out of business during the construction period, even if there was a service lane eventually installed to allow access.
One voice in support of granting consent to Coles to lodge the DA was Meredith Trevellyan-Jones, who has formed the Neutral Bay & Cremorne Progress Association and is best known for her “Jack of Jilly” campaign at the last council election which campaigned against developments of six stories or higher in Neutral Bay such as the one planned by Woolworths in Rangers Rd.
She told the council: “The configuration proposed by Coles has the potential to offer a superior outcome to that contemplated in the rescinded Military Road corridor planning study. It is clear from the Council report that giving consent for Coles to lodge a DA does not mean Council is bound to accept their proposal. Council should insist on an outcome that provides significant public benefits and should walk away from a poor proposal. We have an opportunity which could allow the comprehensive re-imagining of the Neutral Bay Town Centre. I urge you to vote in favour and let Coles develop and present their ideas.”
But the dissenting councillors – Crs Gibson, Spenceley, Mutton and Lepouris – expressed surprise that the council was seeking to support Coles’ right to submit a DA incorporating council land. This is mainly because other recent development proposals which would also fund open space and plazas had been blocked, partly on the grounds that Council should wait for a new Neutral Bay planning policy so that approvals could be granted with recourse to community-influenced guidelines. The current plan is for that policy to be finalised in November 2024.
Cr Ian Mutton told the 26 April meeting: “Suddenly the gun is to our head. We need to move quickly. Really? I have been to briefings from Coles where I have seen vague sketches of what it might look like. I have been warned that these sketches are confidential and can’t be communicated to anyone. Frankly. I feel like I’m being gamed and I don’t like that we are being asked – you can call it consent, you can call it what you like – we are being asked to get into the Coles canoe.”
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.”
Cr Jilly Gibson said: “I’m not going to be rushed by an entity like Coles into making a decision tonight. We need to do the best for Neutral Bay, and it’s not first in, best dressed. All the landowners have to be considered. I can’t believe that you can just try to push this through now. It’s irresponsible. It would be irresponsible and, and reckless for Council not to take note of the other landowners who are present tonight.”
Earlier, Mayor Zoe Baker said that the motion was modest and consent was not permanent.
“What we’re asked to do tonight is to sign a form effectively to allow them to submit an application. It doesn’t allow Coles the right to do anything with council’s land. If council isn’t happy with what’s in that development application, it’s a very big risk that Coles is taking because we could withdraw that owner’s consent. In terms of access and ensuring that access both during construction and after construction for the other landholders who neighbour council’s land, well that’s always been a priority for Council.”
In their report to Council, Marcelo Occhiuzzi, Manager Strategic Planning, and Eoin Cunningham, Manager Traffic & Transport Operations said: “The design of the plaza will need to be refined, and it may be that the DA is lodged with a “placeholder” concept design for the plaza whilst Council/community consultation occurs to refine this aspect of the development. Council will ultimately have the final say on this, including its design, materials, access arrangements etc. Council will not lose control of the future of the carpark/plaza by issuing owner’s consent to the lodgement of the DA. If Coles’ proposal is successful, the design, access arrangements, and other details associated with the delivery of an at-grade plaza, will need to be delivered via a voluntary planning agreement, which is another process that will have public ventilation.”
However, Mayor Baker did acknowledge that Council itself will not evaluate the Coles DA. should it transpire. That will be the job of the North Sydney Planning Panel, composed of two “expert members” and one “community member” who are selected on a rotating basis from a larger group.
Crs Mutton and Spenceley also told the Sun that they were concerned about legal precedents that once consent was granted it was hard to withdraw, citing Rothwell Boys Pty Ltd v Coffs Harbour Council [2012] and Rose Bay Afloat Pty Ltd v Woollahra Municipal Council where the takeout was “ landowner’s consent is only required at the time a development application is made, once that happens, there is no opportunity for revocation or withdrawal of the consent.”
Hence, their desire to rescind the motion.
Crs Mutton and Spenceley say they are concerned by Mayor Baker’s assurances that consent can be easily withdrawn.