CEN puts government on notice

The Community Environment Network (CEN) has put the NSW Government on notice that it must adopt a ‘nature first’ approach to developing a Strategic Conservation Plan for any areas of the Central Coast.

In its response to the exhibition of Terms of Reference for a Central Coast Strategic Conservation Plan, CEN said the government must consider the region’s vulnerability to climate change, its unique biodiversity attributes and the clear threat of regional extinctions of flora and fauna by 2070.

“Protecting and enhancing bushland and biodiversity and protecting and enhancing scenic and cultural landscapes must be the two key objectives of any strategic conservation plan proposed for the Central Coast,” CEN Chair Gary Chestnut said.

“NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe stood in the CEN office during the 2023 election campaign and told us the recommendations of the Henry Review of the 2016 NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act would be fully adopted by a NSW Labor Government if elected.

“Labor was elected but the Henry Review has not been fully implemented and we are left with a Biodiversity Conservation Act that is not fit for purpose and an offset scheme that continues to result in the net loss of biodiversity across NSW.

“That’s not good enough and using the excuse of the housing crisis to destroy more and more habitat is not good enough either, which is why we are sending a clear and loud message to the NSW Government at the outset of the consultation process for the Strategic Conservation Plan.

“We are concerned that, as both the NSW Government and the Commonwealth Government progress to a ‘nature first’ framework for addressing biodiversity and conservation issues, the exhibited terms of reference do not acknowledge this shift or its implications.”

The CEN submission asks why there is “no over-arching vision that acknowledges the unique conservation and scenic value of the Central Coast”.

“Is the underlying philosophy of the Central Coast Strategic Conservation Plan to be overdevelopment at the expense of liveability and biodiversity?” the submission says.

“Whilst we understand that we are commenting on the draft terms of reference and not the actual plan, we were hopeful that the stated objectives would be more in favour of the region’s biodiversity than: … ‘a plan for the Central Coast that creates more land for jobs and homes while protecting important plants and animals’,” Chestnut said.

“Where is the vision or are the current residents and ratepayers of the Central Coast to simply accept we are about to become nothing more than an under-resourced, over-developed giant sleeper suburb for Newcastle and Sydney?

Chestnut said the submission recommended the inclusion of detailed commitments on matters unique to the region, such as the Coastal Open Space System (COSS), the potential for regional extinctions of native plants and animals within the next 50 years and the community’s substantial vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.

“CEN will be monitoring the development of the Strategic Conservation Plan closely and encouraging the community to respond when the draft plan is placed on exhibition this year,” he said.