Growing discontent has been brewing among the residents of Lane Cove, as frustration mounts over the local council's inability to fulfill its basic responsibilities. As a resident profoundly disturbed by these issues, I feel compelled to take a stand.

The Lane Cove Council has embarked on numerous development projects without conducting the necessary due diligence. These projects have been initiated with apparent disregard for the community's trust and have spiraled into financial quagmires that threaten the fiscal stability of our council. As a result, the council is

now pursuing more than a 20% rate increase to finance itself,

 effectively asking residents to bear the brunt of these financial missteps. Do we want to end up like North Sydney councils pool funding nightmare

The council should focus on its core responsibilities — providing essential services to the community — rather than overreaching into ambitious projects that fall under the purview of state government. These projects, undertaken without transparent and realistic business plans, have put unnecessary strain on our financial resources.

We, the concerned residents, believe it is time for the Lane Cove Council to be put into administration. The governance and transparency issues within our council necessitate immediate intervention to restore the community's faith in local government. Council has repeatedly entered into many private developments that we the rate payners are now expected to financially fix

Putting the council into administration is not only pivotal for regaining accountability but also for ensuring that the residents' hard-earned money is not spent covering up hasty and reckless decisions.

 It will pave the way for more judicious use of public funds focused on improving local amenities, infrastructure, and standard community services.

By signing this petition, you are supporting the call for administrative action against a council that has failed its community. This call to action seeks to ensure that the Lane Cove Council remains accountable to its residents and begins to operate within its appropriate capacity, refraining from overextending itself into areas best managed by higher governmental bodies.

Further evidence:

https://www.ombo.nsw.gov.au/about-us/news-events/media-releases/nsw-ombudsman-finds-lane-cove-council-failed-its-fire-safety-obligations​

https://inthecove.com.au/2026/03/12/who-is-responsible-for-replacing-the-lifts-and-escalators-at-lane-cove-market-square/

write to council

email: service@lanecove.nsw.gov.au; councillors@lanecove.nsw.gov.au

As forecast last year, council has finally stated that it is financially unsustainable and requires an increase in Annual rates and charges revenue of approximately 20% above the current rates . Council is currently exhibiting its draft operational plan . The key financial component is the Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) 

 https://haveyoursay.lanecove.nsw.gov.au/106844/widgets/486954/documents/326539

On page 20, it states,

“Council has again budgeted for an operating deficit in 2026/27 which will continue over the life of the LTFP without some form of strategic intervention.

Further, as major capital renewal projects draw to a close, Council is not able to continue to provide the necessary level of funding to meet its infrastructure asset renewal requirements.

Put simply, Council is finding it increasingly difficult to generate sufficient recurrent income to invest in its assets at a level necessary to ensure that they are maintained at a satisfactory level. Council is also experiencing difficulties generating recurrent income to maintain existing services at levels the community has come to expect.”

The plan then presents 3 scenarios (starting on page 21). It states that scenario 1 “continuation of existing services and service levels” and scenario 2 – “Internal intervention”  are “unsustainable”. Scenario 3, the sustainable plan; has an increase in “Rates and Annual Charges” from $50M in scenario 1, to $58M. Effectively a 16% increase in Rates above the 4% set by IPART (in total approx 20%), commencing in 2028/29.

Clearly the council is in financial distress, and finances are being mismanaged. 

Furthermore, the Office of Local Government (OLG)  has strict financial planning and Capital expense guidelines, and there is significant prima facie evidence

that council breached several of these to gain approval of the Sport and Recreation Centre, which we now know should not have been approved without approval of a Special Rate Levy upfront, as required by the Capital expense guidelines.

The breaches mainly involved manipulating the LTFP, the key document used to assess the council ability to finance the full life cycle of a capital investment (i.e. upfront costs and ongoing maintenance).

This suggests that the problem was identified during the planning modelling using the integrated planning framework, and then council intentionally manipulated the LTFP to conceal this.

(For more details, you can refer to my paper at Discussion Paper On LCC Finances.pdf. Note that some links do not work as they have changed since writing it.)

These manipulations and concealing of critical information still continue in the current plan on exhibition.

As members of the public, we can either simply pay the 20% increase and ignore the matter; or ask that all LTFP breaches are corrected on the current LTFP so that the true financial position can be verified by the public, and call for an enquiry into the possible misconduct within the council.

OTHERWISE MAKE A SUBMISSION

 Please consider making a short submission with your own views or with the suggested details below, even if it is late. You can either make a submission online using the council website at

 https://haveyoursay.lanecove.nsw.gov.au/draft-2026-27-budget-operational-plan-and-other-associated-resource-plans?tool=survey_tool#tool_tab ) or email service@lanecove.nsw.gov.au; councillors@lanecove.nsw.gov.au

To: service@lanecove.nsw.gov.au; councillors@lanecove.nsw.gov.au

Subject: SU10923 Draft 2026/27 Integrated Planning and Reporting Documents

I have the following questions and requests.

Is the council financially unsustainable without external intervention, as stated in scenario 1 and 2 of the LTFP?

Is the council planning to apply for a Special Rates Variation commencing 2027/28 as indicated in Scenario 3 of the LTFP?

The Integrated Planning framework and capital expense guidelines are meant to prevent financial distress and surprise. Why was this not identified prior to now, and prior to undertaking

the $81M 

Sport and Recreation Centre?

Council Recurrent Income is very predictable (rates and charges)??

Why would the LTFP suggest that it is “difficult to generate sufficient recurring Income” when there isn’t flexibility in sources of recurring revenue for a council, and the forward planning would have indicated this. Was there any unpredictable events causing this?

The cost to bring assets to agreed service level / asset renewal cost have been increasing rapidly for at least 6 years. Why didn’t the council act earlier?

I ask that all 10 mandatory planning benchmarks specified as, must be met, in the OLG Integrated planning and Reporting Handbook on page 41; are re-instated in each scenario of the LTFP, to enable the public and councillors verify that the OLG planning guidelines are met. (they were removed from the plan in June 2021, when the SRC costs were 1st included).

I ask for an enquiry into why the council finances have been mismanaged leading to financial distress, why this was not identified prior to proceeding with the $81M SRC, and why the capital expense guidelines and review process, and the Integrated Planning framework has failed us.

Evidence includes the council in the news for failing to meet its obligaions on other past "projects" private/council developments, high rise apartments not being managed or fire inspections, the canopy maintenance expenses, the lane cove woolworths centre escalators and ongoing financial exposure
 

Kind regards,

xxxxxxxxxx

Let's protect our community's welfare and financial health by supporting this initiative for change. Please sign this petition to urge for the immediate placement of the Lane Cove Council into administration.