By ANNA USHER

Five years of fights, nearly $3 million spent … and now North Sydney Council wants to know one more thing: what should the residents of Neutral Bay call it?

At its 13 April meeting, Council endorsed a 28-day public consultation, inviting residents to suggest a permanent name for the newly completed Young Street Plaza, between Military Road and Grosvenor Lane.

It is the latest milestone in one of the lower north shore’s most drawn-out planning sagas – a project that took six separate council votes and five years to deliver.

The trial plaza was approved in September 2020 and opened on 23 December that year, with Young Street fully closed to traffic.

Within 18 months, opposition had grown fierce enough to force a reversal: Council voted on 26 April 2022 to reopen the street.

Three more years of redesigns, consultations and committee sign-offs followed. The final concept, a permanent pedestrian zone alongside a single traffic lane, was endorsed in October 2024 and cleared by the Local Traffic Committee in November.

The construction tender was awarded in September 2025, works started the following month, and the plaza was finished in March 2026.

The result: new paving, lighting, native landscaping, shaded seating, a weatherproof pergola and a children’s play area, funded entirely by Transport for NSW as compensation for B-Line bus corridor disruption, at a total cost of $2.749 million.

Now comes the name.

Council’s guidelines favour Aboriginal names, those reflecting local heritage or history, and names tied to the physical character of the area. Names of living people are not eligible (anyone nominated must have been deceased for at least 12 months). No hyphens, no abbreviations, no compass directions, nothing offensive or commercial.

Submissions will be assessed by Council officers and a shortlist put to councillors. The preferred name then goes to the NSW Geographical Names Board for formal approval before being gazetted … unlocking gateway signage and a distinct identity for the space within Neutral Bay Village.

Guidance on how to submit will be available on the North Sydney Council website once the consultation opens.

What would you name it? Email [email protected] and we’ll run the community’s picks.