1 day ago
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North Sydney Council may have just solved a part of its debt by selling a public street off to a prestigious private school, but at the trade-off of local street parking.
Located in the heart of North Sydney, Shore School presented to the local council its interest in purchasing part of Edward Street to improve the bottleneck area used for drop-offs and pick-ups during school hours.
On Monday night, the motion was authorised to enter preliminary discussions with Shore on how exactly it plans to develop and use the road. At this stage, it appears that it could actually happen.
As first reported by The Guardian, spokesperson for Shore, John Collier, said that parents who were agitated by the proposal were “arguing against their own interests”.
“While local residents would lose perhaps four parking spots in Edward Street, the school would probably reduce demand for those spots by enhanced spaces within the school.”
“Shore is happy to work with council to establish a reasonable purchase price based on professional valuations.”
The North Sydney Council has been publicly in financial strife following its inheritance of the Olympic Pool project in 2022, a project that was initially estimated to cost $30 million but was subsequently inflated to a total of $91.8 million, with a final cost projected at $122.2 million.
North Sydney Council attempted to raise the rates on local residents, which was met with protests and never eventuated.
Since then, a new plan has been implemented to seek $6 million in savings or generate new revenue, which has seen many changes at the beginning of the new financial year, including noticeably ramping up the number of parking inspectors handing out infringements – with numerous officers patrolling streets that had historically rarely seen inspectors.
While the sale of the street does raise some funds for the council, with the bond just to look into the feasibility of the proposal being $20,000 alone, it does raise the question of privatisation in the country.
A move that has been a political hot spot, given the good and bad effects of leasing sections of roads to private companies and selling government businesses to the private market.
Whether the road will be sold to the private school, which charges tuition of up to $46,000 per year, will be decided over the next six to 12 months.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
