Central Coast Council just spent a couple of years producing a new Development Control Plan, to replace the old Gosford/Wyong ones.
Supposedly, there was widespread consultation on its provisions, although anybody who commented on the draft might wonder how much attention was paid to public submissions.
It was, then, reviewed by the Minister and approved, to provide the standards for our development for the foreseeable future.
The next day, developers were submitting applications not in conformity with the standards, claiming that breaching the standards would have no impact on development quality, and having these developments approved by the same Council that had just spent a large amount of our money on producing what was touted as the last word in control documents.
If the Council can approve developments not in accordance with the standards, what good are they?
They are obviously not technically defensible, and we cannot rely on them as a framework for protecting the environments of our neighbourhoods.
We are put in the position where, if we want to preserve and enhance urban quality, we have to individually scrutinise every proposal before the Council and be prepared to make representations about the impact it will have.
This is not our job.
We should be able to feel assured that our interests are being protected by the provisions of our Development Control Plan and that we are being properly served by the way they are being administered.
This is patently not the case now.
The fact is that the development standards are a load of arbitrary rubbish, not only aimed at the lowest level of amenity but actually inimical to good design.
Arthur Erickson’s Groveland Road house, for example, couldn’t be built on theCentral Coast, because it does not comply with the current regulations.
Furthermore, the regulations are administered in highly idiosyncratic ways.
There is an overwhelming impression, right or wrong, that developers are permitted breaches that are routinely denied to individual applicants who lack the financial resources to challenge a refusal.
This situation does not lead to a happy relationship between ratepayers and Council: it’s hard to say whether this would improve under an elected Council, but it could hardly be worse.
Email, Apr 24
Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy