Neutral Bay Business Group | Save Neutral Bay Vil

What we stand for

Neutral Bay Village Business Group and the proposed Future Direction of Neutral Bay Village.

As the Neutral Bay Village Business Group, we support change with a vision for the future of Neutral Bay Village becoming a modern-day community Plaza.

We are not against progress and in fact have supported an upgrade of this community land for over 10 years.

Council's own survey from September 2019 states the majority of people surveyed wanted to 'preserve the Neutral Bay Village feel' and "maintain easy access to a wide variety of shops and services".

The proposed underground supermarket and the removal of convenient car parking with direct access to Neutral Bay Village retailers is not consistent with Council’s own research.

Neutral Bay Village

Neutral Bay Village is one of the only few villages remaining in the lower North Shore today that continues to be successful because they have a community public car park that gives direct access to convenient retailers.

Neutral Bay already has three full range supermarkets run by Woolworths and Coles all of which have their own development plans to expand.

The current supermarkets are already choking the current public car parking and strangling the local small business retailers.

Neutral Bay Village has a full complement of convenient small business such as a a baker, pharmacies, butcher, dry cleaners, cafes, book store, seafood shop, chicken shop, hair salons, gift shop and health food stores, that are the fabric of the Village.

The only alternatives are Shopping centres where the offer is considerably less because the supermarket generally is a one stop shop.

Bridgepoint Mosman now has two supermarkets which has resulted in the closure of a bakery, butcher and chicken shop and therefore resulting in considerably less choice for the community.

The community love the convenience and flexibility of the current arrangement – they have choice - either short stay convenient parking or underground parking if a supermarket shop is preferred. 

Future Plaza

Neutral Bay Business Group has always supported a vision of a plaza which should have areas for the community to gather, relax and dine with seating areas to support local restaurants and cafes.

The village plaza should be the heart of Neutral Bay hosting community and family events such as farmers market days, movie nights, local artists and performances.

We support Council’s vision of the building density around the plaza and public car park as long as the plaza remains drenched with sunlight consistent with today’s experience.

Car Park

We are only supportive of a plaza if it maintains a public car park below with additional car parking.

The only way to maintain the Neutral Bay Village feel is to provide a public car park below the plaza independent of the supermarket with easy access to the Village small businesses.

We strongly oppose the supermarket going underground but support the supermarket staying on the same level where it exists today where the customers can conveniently shop between the supermarket and small businesses.We strongly believe the supermarket should not expand into community land and replace existing car spaces.

We don’t want an underground supermarket that feels like a shopping centre with a basement car park that is multiple levels below Military Road.

The community don’t want to drive down multiple levels below an underground supermarket into a basement car park and travel up through the supermarket to reach the Village and community shops. If they wanted that experience they could go up to the Coles at the Big Bear.

This loss of the Neutral Bay Village experience will jeopardise the many small businesses who have served the community for over 30 years.

Resolving delivery truck conflict with the community

We strongly oppose the supermarket loading dock being re-located to Waters Lane opposite Charcoal Charlies above the supermarket. This is a one-off opportunity to resolve the truck pedestrian car conflict that exists today by putting the loading bay underneath the supermarket as is today's best practice.

Continuity of car park and staging

If Council’s proposal is pursued it is likely that during the supermarket site development, there will be no Supermarket or public car park for up to three years.

By maintaining a separate community public car park, parking is always maintained during construction of either the public car park or the supermarket. Construction staging is essential.

In our opinion, this is a simple battle of both supermarket operators wanting to expand and have the biggest supermarket in what is one of most profitable areas in Australia. They intend to use Grosvenor Lane community land to achieve these goals.  Council needs to listen to what the community has already said to them in the 2019 North Sydney Community Survey, they want to maintain a village feel. This does not mean we must stop progress,but it does mean we must keep the fabric and history of Neutral Bay village with convenience and a wide array of convenient retailers who proudly serve their community many for over 30 years

We are for change not against it.

We support

The Village feel of Neutral Bay Village with a full complement of small businesses.
A car park under the plaza that is separate to the supermarket car park with direct access to small businesses.
Adding more parking for the growth of Neutral Bay.

Maintaining Grosvenor Lane from Young St through to Waters Road (not the proposed closing).
Loading Bays for the supermarket being relocated so there is no conflict with Pedestrian and Car access to Neutral Bay.
The loading bay for the supermarket to be buried below the supermarket not relocated to Waters Lane opposite Chargrill Charlies.
That a new plaza be built while maintaining some of the current car park or a new plaza with a car park directly below with direct access.
A supermarket must be on the same level that it is today with easy access to the current convenient retailers not underground as proposed.

That the plaza has areas for the community to gather and relax and to meet and dine with seating areas to support local restaurants and cafes.
That community events are hosted within the plaza such as farmer market days, movie nights and local artist performances.
Support Council’s vision of the building density around the plaza and public car park as long as the plaza remains drenched with sunlight consistent with today’s experience.
Supporting convenient and multiple access points to parking as opposed to the proposed single access point through Coopers Lane into the supermarket car park.

We are strongly against the following items Council has proposed

The supermarket site being expanded to include the public land including Grosvenor Lane car park and Grosvenor Street and Waters Lane. This is a land grab by the supermarket.
The supermarket going underground.
A single share car park buried below an underground supermarket with only one access point which will create unbearable traffic congestion.
The failure to add additional public car parking spaces for the future growth of Neutral Bay. This is an absurdity that with the increased density no additional car spaces have been considered over those that currently exist.

The closing of Grosvenor Lane between Young Street and Waters Road which provides direct access to the Village today.
Failure to relocate the loading dock underground and resolve current delivery truck conflict with cars and pedestrians.

The vision should allow the integration of all the surrounding buildings to the community land and future plaza and community car park.

A staging program that ensures that a car park is maintained between the supermarket or the public car park to ensure that the community has convenient access ongoing to support the local businesses.

There is no single scheme we are suggesting you support - this is about ensuring you are fully informed about all the options available to the community for the future of Neutral Bay Village.

The current public car park provides easy access to 50 retailers for the community and should not be handed to a supermarket developer. The outcomes have not been explained and should be better discussed by Council with the community.

What you can do now.

Support public land to stay owned by the community by objecting to the Council’s Draft Future Directions Report before the 8th June 2020.

1. Visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/neutralbayvillage and complete a 60 second survey.

2. Send a letter to Council directly with your objection around the Neutral Bay Village Plan.

The General Manager, North Sydney Council, PO Box 12, North Sydney, NSW 2059

or visit Council’s website https://yoursay.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/MRC?tool=survey_tool&tool_id=mrc-survey22#tool_tab

3. Join our community on Facebook “Neutral Bay Village” and spread the word! (#saveneutralbayvillage)