The Community Environment Network (CEN) has called on the NSW Government to suspend Central Coast’s planning powers and fix the Coast’s LEP.
The LEP is the Local Environment Plan that is the rule book for development on the Coast.
CEN says the Central Coast’s LEP (CCLEP) is different from every other council’s LEP in the state – and is broken, fundamentally flawed.
“It is bad news for nature, community and developers,” CEN says.
It has asked NSW Planning Minister, Paul Scully, to intervene and give the Central Coast a better plan.
It expects to hear back within the month.
Conservation zones in the LEP are supposed to give landholders and developers certainty as to what they can and cannot do with land.
“Our Council’s use of Conservation Zones is based on inaccurate mapping and inappropriate land uses,” CEN says.
It says the plan is failing to give clear boundaries and delineation of where development should or should not take place.
As examples, CEN points to almost $500M of development on hold at two sites.
One is the St Philips’ Christian Education Foundation Limited plan for a $425M State Significant Development at Charmhaven that has been thrown into uncharted territory.
The proposed building footprint is located where two orchids have been recorded, one critically endangered and one threatened, but they were not considered when a zoning boundary was defined.
And a $67.7M expansion of the Woolworths Regional Distribution Centre at Warnervale has been put on hold because a threatened species was not included in a selection criterion in the C2 zone.
The development has been refused by the Federal Minister for Environment due to the presence of a critically endangered Sun Orchid.
Council, which was formed from the merger of Gosford and Wyong councils in 2016, took years to consolidate, or in its words “harmonise”, the two former councils’ LEPs.
In the early days of amalgamation, Council said it would be a first step towards a new Comprehensive LEP to come.
The harmonised LEP took effect from August 1, 2022, along with a Development Control Plan which details planning and design guidelines.
At the time, Council said the one planning framework would lead to greater efficiencies in preparing and assessing development applications – benefiting the Central Coast community, investors and Council staff.
“It’s enormously beneficial to have consistency in planning controls across the region as the smoother process for development applications and assessment encourages investment and provides a boost to local jobs, and increases quality housing and infrastructure for our growing population,” Council said.
But Council is under fire for the extended wait times for development applications to be assessed.
Developers are using “deemed refusals” to go to the Land and Environment Court to get decisions on their DAs.
(See previous story here: https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2024/01/developers-go-to-court-as-da-times-drag/
Council said in 2022 that the LEP would be updated as required, in response to emerging strategic priorities for the Coast.
It applied to about 95 per cent of the Local Government Area.
The remaining land was either the Gosford City Centre, which is subject to its own controls under State Environmental Planning Policy or “deferred land” which remained subject to an Interim Development Order 122 (IDO 122).
“Deferred lands” were mainly urban fringe properties that needed their land use zones reviewed in the light of State Government guidelines on environmental zoning.
CEN says it uncovered flaws in Council’s interpretation and use of Conservation Zones under the LEP when researching the recently exhibited planning proposal for the zoning of deferred land matters.
The Council’s proposed changes could allow completely inappropriate land uses for land that needs environmental protection, CEN says.
It has called on the community to support its campaign: Central Coast Deserves a Better Plan.
“We were promised that a positive outcome of merging Wyong and Gosford councils would be a brand new Comprehensive Local Environmental Plan for the region,” CEN said.
“Instead, eight years later, we are stuck with a mish-mash of the LEPs of two former councils that doesn’t work.”
The campaign will be launched on Tuesday, February 13, at 7pm in Lecture Theatre LT101 at the Ourimbah Campus of Newcastle University.
Merilyn Vale
Your articles on the Community Environment Network always read: “CEN said”, “CEN says”. Why doesn’t anyone from the organisation want to put their name to these comments? Rarely are other contributors given such anonymity.