The mall was unveiled in 1986 and, ever since, the issue of reopening that two-block stretch of Crown Street resurfaces at regular intervals.

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At Monday night's council meeting, it was brought up via a motion from Councillor Cameron Walters on the back of a report submitted to the Wollongong City Centre Planning Review on behalf of traders in the mall.

In Cr Walters' motion, he called for council to investigate "options for the reopening of Crown Street Mall for vehicular traffic between Keira Street, Church Street and/or Kembla Street".

At the meeting he said something needed to be done to revitalise the area so it was "more than 400 metres of mall with a palm tree up a pole".

However, he stopped short of calling for the road to be fully reopened to four lanes of traffic.

Cr Dom Figliomeni supported the idea, as long as it signalled an end to the debate over reopening the mall to vehicle traffic.

Cr David Brown opposed the motion, stating that 100 per cent of the emails he had received on the subject were against allowing cars back into the mall.

He was also concerned about council basing a decision on a report from store owners, saying it meant they would be giving one group "vastly preferential treatment".

Councillors Mithra Cox and Leigh Colacino both refuted the suggestion that closed shops in the mall were a result of lack of vehicle access - with Cr Cox noting a similar number of vacant premises along lower Crown Street.

Cr Colacino said vacant stores were a sign of the changing nature of retail.

Ultimately, council passed a revised motion that called for an investigation on all options for the mall, rather than restricting it to vehicular access only.

That motion passed seven votes to five.

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