It is with dismay that I am informed that the mayor and councillors of Gosford have collectively passed at least two motions to convert community land to operational land under the pretext of needing operational money from flogging off this land to developers.
This seems strange in light of the fact that the general manager, Mr Paul Anderson, recently stated that Gosford Council ran at a $12 million surplus in financial year 2014-15, once grants were removed from the accounts. The logic of this further escapes me in a week when it was stated by the NSW premier that we need to increase the amount of green spaces in our urban areas to improve the mental health of our children.
Previous councils deliberately set aside these lands for passive recreation of residents, not to provide a revenue source for spurious and fabricated requirements. I beseech the mayor and councillors to provide Gosford Council with a documented strategy on the management of public lands to conduct effective community consultation before taking any more actions to change the status or demolish any facilities (such as children’s playground facilities and Wamberal Memorial Hall) on public lands in Gosford. Finally, I urge the mayor and councillors to revoke the conversions of community land to operational land made September 8, and November 10, last year, until the documented strategy on the management of public lands has been completed.
Email, Jan 23, 2016 Doug Williamson, Wamberal