A public meeting will be held to bring together groups and residents who are opposed to the loss of local reserves, parks and greenspaces through Gosford Council’s “sell off of public land”.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 19 at the Anglican Church, 3 Mann St, Gosford. “On September 8 Gosford councillors voted to proceed with stage one of a public land sell- off, without any overarching strategy or public consultation,” said spokesperson for Save Central Coast Reserves and Save East Gosford Reserve, Ms Sue Chidgey. “
On November 10, council voted to proceed with stage two. “Gosford Council has identified land from Forresters Beach to Umina, including an iconic lookout at Avoca Beach and playgrounds at Lisarow and Niagara Park in a list of sites that have been identified as having sale potential, with ‘no further use to Council and having little community benefit’,“ Ms Chidgey said.
“Resident groups have sprung up in strong opposition to the proposal with public group Save East Gosford Reserve attracting over 420 members within a few weeks. “An umbrella Facebook page, Save Central Coast Reserves, has also been created to give residents across Gosford LGA access to information.
“Already, a few more groups have formed to campaign for the protection of some of the reserves, however the community needs to check whether one of the listed reserves below is in their neighbourhood,” Ms Chidgey said. “We are extremely concerned about the lack of transparency around this process,” said Ms Jane Smith, Community Environment Network CEO.
“Council has not exhibited any strategy about their public land sell-off,” Ms Smith said. “They have refused to consult with local communities, neighbourhoods and stakeholders about how they value these lands,” she said. “The community expects transparency from council in their processes and that they value the community’s input in the fi rst instance, not as an afterthought.
“Council has not notified local communities of their plans and residents have slowly found out through articles in the press, social media and by word of mouth. “To date, 31 lots of public land are under threat.” Many of these are valued by local communities for recreation, open space or environmental values. “The only public exhibition will be to reclassify community land to operational land so that it can be sold. “However, this process won’t notify that the land is earmarked for sale.” Residents are invited to attend the public meeting to hear from representatives of groups who have already formed to campaign against the loss of their local reserves, parks and greenspaces.
The meeting was organised by Save East Gosford Reserve, Save Central Coast Reserves, Friends of Winter Close, Save Jumbuck Crescent Reserve and the Community Environment Network. List of current lots already classified as Operational Land in the Gosford area that will go straight to sale with no further community consultation:
- lot A DP 162881, 139 Faunce St, Gosford;
- lot 11 DP 701553, 88a Empire Bay Dve, Bensville;
- lot E DP 39240, 9 Russell Drysdale St, East Gosford; and
- lot 29 DP 262094, 12 Gibbens Rd, West Gosford.
Lots that are still classified as Community land, so would need to be reclassified to Operational before they could be sold, which means some community consultation is still required are located at:
- lot 46 DP 231546, 6 Isis St, Wyoming;
- Perratt Close Reserve R2217, 1B Perratt Clse, Lisarow;
- R2129 – lot 20 DP 258815, 13 Winter Clse, Lisarow;
- Eagle Close Reserve R0012, 2 Eagle Clse, Lisarow;
- lot 1 DP 996535, 40a George St, East Gosford;
- reserve between Wells St and Lushington St, East Gosford;
- reserve at the corner Wells St and Coburg St, East Gosford;
- lot 25 DP 26468, Cnr Dover Rd and Lakeview Rd, Wamberal;
- a minimum six lots within the parcel known as Part R2202 Yarram Rd playground, Bensville;
- lot 318 DP 225178 and lot 319 DP 225178, Bluewave Cres, Forresters Beach;
- lot 32 DP 248806, 93a Riviera Ave, Terrigal; lot 402 DP 818160, 36 James Sea Dve, Green Point;
- lot 401 DP 818160, 38 James Sea Dve, Green Point; 1 Hely St, West Gosford;
- lot 8 DP 246234, 12 Jerribin St, Wyoming;
- lot 192, DP 237499, 2 Kateena Ave, Tascott;
- lot 22 DP 29443, 22A Delaware Rd, Niagara Park;
- lot 27 DP 778345, 71 Alan St, Niagara Park;
- lot 17 Sec 2, DP 12702, 83 Ilumba Ave, Davistown;
- lots 35 and 51 DP 26603, 37 and 39 Warren Ave, Avoca Beach; and
- lot 1 DP 707133, 182 Ocean View Dve, Wamberal.
Media release,Jan 10, 2016 Sue Chidgey, Save Central Coast Reserves