Consultation has now concluded - thank you for your feedback.

See project updates below for the exciting announcement of a fully funded new public plaza for Knox Street, Double Bay.

Share your ideas for our public and open spaces

Woollahra council is eligible to receive up to $4.75M from the NSW Government under their NSW Public Spaces Legacy Program, to spend on a major public space project or projects in our local area.

This funding is available to Councils who can improve their Development Application assessment times, whilst not compromising assessment standards. Faster development assessment times will aid New South Wales’ economic recovery from COVID-19 by helping to unlock construction jobs and support economic activity. Similarly, new capital works projects undertaken by Council will give an additional boost to our economy – as well as providing ongoing benefits for our local community.

We have some ideas about how we could use this funding, and we’d love to know what you think about our suggested projects. We would like to hear your ideas (see survey tab) too before 18 December 2020.

What’s this program about?

We are lucky to have so many beautiful and well-loved public spaces, streets, parks, bushland and beaches in our local area. The COVID-19 pandemic has made us realise how valuable these places are.

The NSW Public Spaces Legacy Program is a NSW Government initiative that will fund new and/or improved high-quality public and open spaces to ensure a legacy well beyond the COVID-19 economic recovery period by contributing to the health, wellbeing and economic growth of our community.

Our ideas

We have come up with a preliminary list of ideas for how this money could be spent. We welcome your feedback on these project ideas, or any additional project ideas (see below) before Friday 18 December. Please note that the following projects are shown in no particular order.

1. Knox Street, Double Bay – creating a pedestrianised public plaza between Bay Street and Goldman Lane as envisaged in the Double Bay Pedestrianisation Study 2020. This project would include full road closure and creation of paved public plaza with seating areas and public art elements. Indicative cost $3.6m.
   
   
2. Guilfoyle Park, Double Bay – finalising the staged upgrade to the main public plaza of the Double Bay business centre. The project includes a water feature and expanded plaza area to facilitate public gatherings and events. Indicative cost $800k - $1m.
   
   
3. Bellevue Park, Bellevue Hill – providing a new perimeter active transport (walking or cycling) route to link Birriga Road and Bellevue Park Road. Indicative cost $700k - $1m
   
   
4. Marine Parade, Watsons Bay – revisioning the public domain adjacent to the Watsons Bay Baths to improve pedestrian connectivity between existing open space at Robertson Park and Watsons Bay Beach with the public baths, Gibsons Beach, Tea Rooms and the public library. Indicative cost $800k - $1m

Your ideas

If you’ve ever had a big idea about how a public space in our local area could be improved, now is the time to share it with us. All you need to do is provide a summary of your feedback or idea (in 100 words or less) using the form below before Friday 18 December 2020.

For your idea to be considered, it needs to meet the following program guidelines as set by the NSW Government. Please read these before sharing your feedback.

Eligible projects under the program guidelines include:

• Open spaces and parklands including regional and district open spaces and linear parklands; or
• Trails and strategic open space linkages including recreational improvements
• Foreshore and riverfront precincts, including improvements for water based recreation such as launching small watercraft, access to waterways for swimming, trails and picnic areas; or
• Civic plazas, town squares and main street precincts that improve connections between public space, promote walkability and greater accessibility; or
• Heritage works associated with any of the above.
• Eligible projects must be ready to commence construction by August 2021 with completion by end of 2022.

The following are out of scope:

• Projects outside of NSW
• Purchase of land for purposes other than open space creation
• Funding of personnel or staff positions
• Events, marketing, branding, advertising or product promotion
• Projects requiring ongoing funding from the NSW Government
• Retrospective funding to cover any project component that is already complete/underway
• Maintenance works
• Projects which are considered to be part of council’s usual ongoing maintenance and management of a site (including ongoing reserve management, asset maintenance or replacement of existing infrastructure).
• Construction and planning of organized sporting facilities, including club houses and synthetic sports fields.
• Commercial operations and buildings, including club rooms.
• Road works including routine upgrading of footpaths, kerbs and car parks, with the exception of carparks that support the use and access to open space areas.
• Public art pieces as a singular project. Note public art that is integrated in to a wider public and open space project will be considered.
• Projects that require the public to pay a fee to access the site.

Next steps

Suggested projects that are consistent with the program guidelines, along with projects suggested by Council staff and Councillors, will be reviewed before being reported to Council for discussion later in 2020.

Council will then submit the nominated project(s) to the NSW Government for final approval before 1 March 2021, which is the deadline set by the Government.

Under the program guidelines, construction would be required to commence from August 2021, after further community consultation on any approved projects.

Public spaces legacy program survey - share your ideas

CLOSED: This survey has concluded.