[Forum] Our quality of life is under threat by the current State Government’s, develop at any cost, policy.
If not, why then are Council’s planning policies being taken over by the State Government and handed to unelected bureaucrats for determination? Is that the new definition of democracy? Planning bureaucrats have been watching too much of that TV series, Yes Minister. Packing more and more people into the Central Coast is not going to solve our unemployment problem. It will aggravate it.
It won’t ease our commuting problem. It will add to it. It will not solve our traffic congestion. It will only make it worse. The Development Control Plan (DCP) has no limit on the number of storeys in Gosford in some locations. Buildings could be 30 storeys or more in height, ignoring an unpublished economic feasibility study from 2017- 18 that predicted buildings in excess of 10 storeys as not feasible in Gosford. Bureaucrats have removed many of the controls recommended by the consultants, with no justification.
The proposed changes in this DCP are of such magnitude, that as a total package, it is undemocratic, and implementation will further diminish our, and our children’s, quality of life. Government’s prime objective should be to raise our quality of life, not diminish it. The NSW Minister for Planning, Anthony Roberts, should be demanding that the Federal Minister for Immigration immediately reduce our immigrant intake from 262,500 per year to 100,000 per year. Such a move would solve some of Minister Roberts’ problems. Australia needs a national population policy for the next 30 to 50 years.
This would allow State Governments and local councils time to plan and implement infrastructure within a more sound and financial strategy, not in the ad hoc way now being undertaken in the Gosford CBD. According to a Productivity Commission paper on the economic impact of migration and population growth, the economic benefits of a larger population are very small, and it makes no sense to continue to overpopulate Australia with the highest net migration intake ever.
We do not have sufficient infrastructure, and the impact on our environment would be disastrous. The CSIRO’s report, Future Dilemmas, published in 2002, predicted dire consequences if Australia’s population was not kept under control, and whilst it is not practicable to limit our population growth by birth control, like China’s one child policy, it is practicable to limit growth by proper immigration control, and this would be most beneficial to the Central Coast’s future.
Letter, Nov 22 Malcolm Brooks, Gosford