North Sydney Council battles Mosman Council over new roundabout plan for Spofforth St

North Sydney councillors have issued some choice words for their Mosman neighbours long-planned traffic upgrades of a busy road dividing the two council areas.

North Sydney Council is pushing ahead with plans for upgrades including a roundabout.

North Sydney councillors have taken a potshot at their eastern neighbours at Mosman Council over long-planned traffic upgrades of a busy road dividing the two local government areas.

Mosman Council is facing fresh criticism from North Sydney Council over a proposal to ease traffic congestion and improve pedestrian safety on Spofforth St in Cremorne.

North Sydney Council has wanted to upgrades the road since 2021 and still wants to create a new roundabout at the Holt Ave intersection.

But Mosman Council has not supported the roundabout, deeming it a low priority for any urgent action based on figures showing there have been no fatalities at the intersection in the last 15 years.

Spofforth St divides the two council areas and the project therefore requires the support from both local government bodies.

A photo of where North Sydney Council wants to build a roundabout.

North Sydney Mayor Zoe Baker has now written to Mosman Mayor Carolyn Corrigan to a briefing meeting in a bid to revive the project.

Ms Baker said the upgrade had the support of many residents on both sides of the council boundary.

A concept plan of the roundabout.

“It isn’t our land, it’s both Mosman and North Sydney’s land and you can’t have half a roundabout on the North Sydney side without the other half in Mosman,” she said.

“I’ve had people in the Mosman local government area contact me because they are as equally frustrated as those in North Sydney.”

North Sydney councillor Jilly Gibson, who served as mayor during early planning works in the project, labelled Mosman Council’s attitude towards the upgrades as “appalling”.

“I went to a Mosman traffic committee meeting, met with the mayor, wrote to the mayor, met with residents and sadly Mosman Council have taken absolutely no interest in it at all,” she said. “They just thought ‘technically it’s your road and why should we even spend money consulting our residents on something you want?’

North Sydney mayor Zoe Baker said Mosman Council has taken a “frankly strange” attitude towards upgrades on the street.

“It was appalling. Mosman Council doesn’t see it as being in their territory, they just kept refusing and refusing to co-operate and going halves in something that would benefit residents on both sides of the boundary.”

Mosman Council has conducted previous consultation on the proposal, resulting in 19 of 42 respondents calling for “no further action” to be taken at the Holt Ave intersection.

Julie Lorimer, a resident of Holt Ave on the Mosman side of the boundary, said a public meeting of Holt Ave residents resulted in almost all her neighbours opposing the roundabout.

“We have lived in Holt Ave for 30 years and this used to be a very quiet little street and now we have traffic jams outside our doors,” she said. “A roundabout might help with the traffic jam, but our concern is a roundabout would make it easier for people to use our street as a rat run.

North Sydney former mayor Jilly Gibson and Mosman mayor Carolyn Corrigan on the border line of the two councils at Spofforth St, pictured here back in 2017.

The council has been planning the roundabout since 2021.

“We’d rather have a traffic jam than have more cars flying past our doors and down the street.”

Spofforth St resident Helen Mallikopoulos supported upgrades on Spofforth St, saying many locals were paying the price for the council stalemate relating to the project.

“There’s too much traffic and you can’t even cross in the mornings and the afternoons,” she said. “I’ve seen kids try to cross in front of cars – it’s dangerous – and have to avoid driving at those times because there’s so much traffic. I think the councils should come to an agreement.”

Spofforth St resident Helen Mallikopoulos supports traffic upgrades.

North Sydney Council has also wanted upgrades on Spofforth St intersections with Rangers Rd and Florence St – two projects Ms Baker claimed Mosman Council had taken a “frankly strange attitude” towards.

“Their concern is about loss of parking spaces for the shops even though the plans that have been drawn up do not result in a loss of a single space,” she said.

In a statement, Mosman Council said the council was “always open to meetings with its neighbouring councils” but “in this instance deemed a meeting between staff is all that is required as the matter is both minor and operational”.

A Mosman Council traffic committee recommendation in 2021 has supported alternative upgrades at the intersection of Spofforth St and Holt Ave including ‘kerb buildouts’ on the Mosman side to improve sight distance for vehicles for cars entering Spofforth St.

Figures from the Centre for Road Safety show there have been five accidents on the Holt Ave / Spofforth St intersection in the last four years resulting in two serious injuries and one minor injury.