Community members should keep speaking to their former councillors if they have any concerns during the period of Central Coast Council a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , according to former Gosford Councillor, Mr Craig Doyle. Mr Doyle has been chosen to head the Environmental Working Group within the Local Representation Committee of the new Central Coast Council.
The Committee was chosen by Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, and all former Wyong and Gosford Councillors (except former Gosford Mayor, Mr Lawrie McKinna) are members of the committee. Three working groups have been formed under the umbrella of the representation committee: Environment, Economic and Community. Mr Doyle said the Environment Working Group was now attempting to set its meeting agenda through the chair. “There are no set rules for any of the groups, but my group is sending issues to me to send on to the Central Coast Council CEO, Mr Rob Noble, for listing on the agenda,” Mr Doyle said. “All the minutes from the three groups’ fi rst meetings have been published. “Now it is a matter of the community coming to us to put things on the agenda, then to discuss them and make recommendations to the Administrator,” he said.
Mr Reynolds is not bound by any of the recommendations made by the three working groups or by the Representation Committee as a whole. Their role is to provide advice and what Mr Reynolds then does with that advice is entirely up to him. “I was very pleased to see that Mr Reynolds held the line when it came to the Wallarah 2 Coal Mine and, from my point of view, it gave the community a voice that Mr Reynolds would not have been aware of because he wasn’t here in 2014,” Mr Doyle said. “We had no way of knowing whether something was being done about the amended DA for Wallarah 2 by the staff, but the Environment Working Group provided unanimous support that an objection should have been made on behalf of the Council,” he said. “At least the community still has a voice through the working group representatives, because funnily enough, even though I am no longer a councillor, people still ring me. “I can understand the community’s fear that they have lost their representation, but at least if they talk to me, I can give them a small voice.”
Mr Doyle said there was only so much each working group could get done in an hour, but, until next September, we need to make the most of what we’ve got. “I want to make it clear that if people have concerns, they shouldn’t stop contacting their former councillors, because that’s what we are there for, to provide advice about what the community is thinking and inform the Administrator about the community’s concerns,” he said. Mr Doyle said he had personally asked for the former Gosford Council’s land sale strategy to be on the Environment Working Group’s agenda for discussion and asked for an update from the Administrator.
Interview, Sep 19, 2016 Craig Doyle, Central Coast Council Local Representation Committee, Environment Working Group