CALL TO ACTION

NEXT STEPS IN THE CENTRAL COAST DESERVES A BETTER PLAN CAMPAIGN

Thank you for attending the launch of the Community Environment Network’s The Central Coast Deserves a Better Plan campaign. We hope you agree with our assessment that the NSW Government needs to take action to fix the Central Coast Local Environmental Plan 2022 (CCLEP2022). Now we need your help to tell the relevant NSW Ministers and local MPs that this is an URGENT and IMPORTANT issue that the Central Coast community wants to see fixed. Throughout February and March, we will be encouraging the whole Central Coast community to take the following steps in support of our campaign:

1. Phone or email your local NSW State MP. They are:

The Entrance, David Mehan MP email: theentrance@parliament.nsw.gov.au, Ph 02 4334 1012

Wyong, The Hon David Harris, email: wyong@parliament.nsw.gov.au, Ph 02 4352 2711

Gosford, Liesl Tesch MP, email: gosford@parliament.nsw.gov.au, Ph 02 4342 4122

Terrigal, Adam Crouch MP, email: terrigal@parliament.nsw.gov.au, Ph 02 4365 1906

Swansea, Yasmin Catley, email: swansea@parliament.nsw.gov.au, Ph 02 4972 1133

2. Email one, or all, of the following Senior members of the NSW Government setting out your concerns:

NSW Premier, The Hon Chris Minns MP, email via this contact form: https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/premier-of-nsw/contact-premier, Ph 02 7225 6000

NSW Minister for Planning, The Hon Paul Scully MP, email via this contact form: https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/ministers/minister-for-planning-and-public-spaces, 02 7225 6080

NSW Minister for Local Government, The Hon Ron Hoenig, email via this contact form: https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministers/minister-for-local-government, Ph: 02 7225 6150

NSW Minister for the Environment, The Hon Penny Sharpe, MLC, email via this contact form: https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/ministers/minister-environment-heritage Ph: 02 7225 6020

Some tips:

1. When you use the Minister’s feedback forms, remember to tick the box that says “I would like a response”.
2. You can either type your message for the Minister into the “message” area (max 10,000 characters) or you can write your message as a letter and then attach it as a file.
3. It is always good to follow up an email with a phone call to the Minister’s office to make sure it has been received!
4. PLEASE TURN OVER FOR POINTS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR EMAILS, CONVERSATIONS AND PHONE CALLS
5. Please talk to your family, friends, neighbours, and networks and encourage others to write to their MPs and Ministers
6. Stay up to date with our campaign via https://www.facebook.com/communityenvironmentnetwork//

Or by using this QR code

PLEASE CONSIDER USING SOME OF THE FOLLOWING KEY POINTS IN YOUR CONVERSATIONS WITH, AND EMAILS TO, MPs AND NSW GOVERNMENT MINISTERS

POINTS FOR THE PREMIER, CHRIS MINNS

1. Will the Premier consider adopting CEN’s recommendations regarding the Deferred Lands and problems with CCLEP 2022; suspend Central Coast Council’s planning powers and use a planning proposal to review and fix CCLEP 2022; place a moratorium on all rezonings, State Significant Developments (SSDs) and developments that involve C2, C3 and C4 land until CCLEP 2022 is amended; defer, review and readvertise the Deferred Lands Planning Proposal if Council continues down the path to rezone the 7(a) to C3 and the 7(c2) to C4.

2. The Central Coast community was promised a brand new, comprehensive Local Environmental Plan as an outcome of council amalgamation almost eight years ago. Can the Premier please tell the community when it will be given a new, comprehensive LEP?
3. The Central Coast Local Government Area has been under administration since October 2020 and all sorts of inappropriate planning decisions have been made without community representation. Will the Premier please authorise the Minister for Local Government and Minister for Planning to take steps to stop further inappropriate Planning Proposals, State Significant Developments and inappropriate uses on Conservation Land, at least until after the council election in September 2024?
4. Will the Premier make a public statement to reassure the Central Coast Community that his government will review the inappropriate interpretations and uses of the C2, C3 and C4 Conservation Zones on the Central Coast?

POINTS FOR THE MINISTER FOR PLANNING, PAUL SCULLY

1. Will the Minister consider adopting CEN’s recommendations regarding the Deferred Lands and problems with CCLEP 2022; suspend Central Coast Council’s planning powers and use a planning proposal to review and fix CCLEP 2022; place a moratorium on all rezonings, State Significant Developments (SSDs) and developments that involve C2, C3 and C4 land until CCLEP 2022 is amended; defer, review and readvertise the Deferred Lands Planning Proposal if Council continues down the path to rezone the 7(a) to C3 and the 7(c2) to C4.

2. Over $500 million worth of development has been derailed because the Central Coast Local Environmental Plan 2022 (CCLEP2022) is not fit for purpose. Can Minister Scully please commit to an independent review of the CCLEP. Until such a review is completed, can Minister Scully please suspend the approval of any Conservation Zone (C2, C3 and C4) rezonings (Planning proposals) and clearing of native flora on any development sites that may have been given consent under CCLEP2022.
3. Can Minister Scully assure the residents, ratepayers and business owners of the Central Coast that he will refuse the Planning Proposal for Deferred Matters Lands in the former Gosford LGA in its current form, review the concerns raised by CEN and re-exhibit the Planning Proposal after the September election?
4. Can Minister Scully assure the Central Coast community that his department will investigate CEN’s observations that Central Coast Council is currently carrying out unlawful activities on Conservation (C2) land?

POINTS FOR THE MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT, RON HOENIG

1. Will the Minister undertake to investigate the concerns expressed by CEN in its correspondence with the Minister regarding potential breaches of the Central Coast Council’s Code of Conduct in relation to the Administrator’s failure to address major issues raised by a respected community group in a timely manner?
2. Will the Minister agree to work with the other relevant Ministers to ensure Central Coast Council is using the Conservation Zones (C2, C3 and C4) in an appropriate manner.

POINTS FOR THE MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, PENNY SHARPE

1. Will the Minister investigate CEN’s concerns about alleged breaches of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and Environmental Planning and Assessment Act in relation to the illegal clearing and unlawful uses on C2 land at Central Coast Airport and Porters Creek Wetland?
2. Will the Minister agree to work with the other relevant Ministers to ensure the Central Coast Council’s interpretation of the objectives and uses of land zoned C2, C3, and C4 is appropriate for Conservation land?

THE BEST EMAILS ARE WRITTEN IN YOUR OWN WORDS. FEEL FREE TO USE OTHER MATERIAL FROM OUR WEBSITE VIA THIS QR CODE

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THIS CAMPAIGN

READ ON FOR CAMPAIGN BACKGROUND

“CENTRAL COAST LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN (CCLEP 2022) NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE”

NSW GOVERNMENT MUST SUSPEND CENTRAL COAST COUNCIL’S PLANNING POWERS AND FIX OUR LEP

Every Council in NSW has a Local Environmental Plan (LEP) that sets out the rules for how land can be used but the Central Coast’s LEP is different from every other council in the state – and it’s broken.

That is why the Community Environment Network (CEN) has declared the Central Coast Local Environmental Plan 2022 (CCLEP 2022) “fundamentally flawed” and asked the NSW Planning Minister, The Hon Paul Scully MP, to intervene and give the Central Coast A Better Plan.

Bad news for nature, community and developers

The CCLEP 2022 is fundamentally flawed when it comes to the implementation of the Conservation Zones (C2, C3 and C4) that are intended to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitat.

The Conservation Zones are also 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.

Central Coast Council’s misinterpretation of C2, C3 and C4 zones means CCLEP 2022 is FAILING TO PROTECT:

• Threatened species,
• Wildlife corridors, 
• Aboriginal Cultural Heritage

It is FAILING TO GIVE clear boundaries and delineation of where development should or should not take place.

Case studies

Inaccurate mapping has already resulted in development footprints encroaching on the habitat of endangered species because the boundaries of the C2 zone that was supposed to protect that habitat were in the wrong place.

1. St Philips’ Christian Education Foundation Limited at Lake Haven planned a $425 million State Significant Development that has been thrown into uncharted territory.  The proposed building footprint is located where the critically endangered ground orchid Corunastylis branwhiteorum and the threatened orchid Genoplesium insignis have been recorded. CEN thinks it is negligent that critically endangered and threatened orchids were recorded on specific sites but not considered when defining the C2 zone boundary.  If they had been considered part of the C2 zone, the current development uncertainty would have been avoided.  

2. A $67.7 million expansion of the Woolworths Regional Distribution Centre at Warnervale has been put on hold because Central Coast Council failed to include threatened species as a selection criterion in the C2 zone. The development has been refused by the Federal Minister for Environment due to the presence of the critically endangered Sun Orchid Thelymitra adorate.

Action Needed Now!

CEN hopes the $500 million of development put on hold because of the CCLEP 2022 will be reason enough for the NSW Planning Minister, Paul Scully, to take our concerns seriously. We are concerned that the volume of land clearing that has taken place in the former Wyong Shire since the adoption of CCLEP 2022 may mean significant other threatened species and their habitat have already been destroyed.

Minister Scully must suspend Central Coast Council’s planning powers and amend CCLEP 2022 to include threatened species, Aboriginal heritage, and ensure the zoning boundaries are accurate.

CEN is calling upon the NSW Government to act immediately and take the following steps:

1. Adopt CEN’s recommendations regarding the Deferred Lands and problems with CCLEP 2022;
2. Suspend Central Coast Council’s planning powers;
3. Use a planning proposal to review and fix CCLEP 2022;
4. Place a moratorium on all rezonings, State Significant Developments (SSDs) and developments that involve C2, C3 and C4 land until CCLEP 2022 is amended;
5. Defer, review and readvertise the Deferred Lands Planning Proposal if Council continues down the path to rezone the 7(a) to C3 and the 7(c2) to C4.

Finding the flaws

CEN uncovered these flaws in Central Coast Council’s interpretation and use of Conservation Zones under CCLEP when researching the recently exhibited planning proposal for the zoning of Deferred Land matters in the former Gosford City local government area.

CCLEP 2022 was exhibited publicly before it was adopted but it was only when we looked deeply at the different conservation land models used by the former Gosford City and Wyong Shire Councils, and how those models were then applied under CCLEP 2022, that we detected these issues.

Deferred lands

As CEN has already stated in its submission and media releases, Council has misled the public into thinking its planning proposal for deferred lands in the southern areas of the Coast is “like for like”.

In fact, if adopted, it will result in the rezoning of 7(c2) land, which should be C3 land, to C4 – opening that land to inappropriate uses such as brothels and drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres.

Deferred lots of land currently zoned 7(a) should be zoned C2 – the highest level of protection outside a National Park). Council has proposed they be rezoned to C3. This means conservation land, if zoned C3, could end up being used for an animal breeding facility – a completely inappropriate land use.”

Stop clearing bush

CCLEP 2022 must not be used to determine which land in the north of the LGA is appropriate for development because mapping inaccuracies could result in the clearing of ecologically sensitive land.

This could see Council and developers in breach of multiple laws. The flaws in the LEP are bad news for developers too.

The inaccurate mapping and lack of criteria used to define the C2 zone in the former Wyong LGA will substantially increase development costs, delays and uncertainty.

What we’ve done

CEN has been ringing alarm bells about the flaws in CCLEP 2022 for months, writing to Central Coast Council Administrator, Rik Hart, Minister for the Central Coast, The Hon David Harris, and all other local State MPs.

CEN has met council staff and one Member of the NSW Legislative Council (MLC) regarding its concerns.

Mr Hart has fobbed off our questions and concerns and Minister Harris has told us this issue falls outside his portfolio responsibility.

Thankfully Minister Harris and Liesl Tesch MP, state Member for Gosford, have referred our concerns to NSW Planning Minister, Paul Scully, and the Department of Planning.

Mr Scully’s office has confirmed receipt of the Members’ representation, but it will take three weeks to get a response.

Minister Harris also referred our concerns to NSW Local Government Minister, Ron Hoenig, and the Department regarding Council’s lack of action.

Meanwhile, CEN believes the community deserves to know about the fundamental flaws in the CCLEP 2022.

We’ve already held two public meetings to discuss how these problems will open land to inappropriate uses when it should be protected in the former Gosford LGA. Over 100 people attended those meetings.

What you can do

CEN is now asking for community support for 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.

Instead, eight years later, we are stuck with a mish-mash of the LEPs of two former councils that doesn’t work.

Please join our campaign.

1. Attend our launch – on Tuesday, 13 February at 7pm, Lecture Theatre LT101, Ourimbah Campus of Newcastle University – RVSP via admin@cen.org.au
2. Spread the word – Share our facebook posts with your friends and networks
3. Letter box drop – Email admin@cen.org.au and we will set you up with flyers and a territory
4. Letters and emails – We need as many people as possible to email their local MP, Minister Scully and Premier Minns to tell them the Central Coast Deserves a Better Plan. Feel free to use information from this page or our facebook posts but make sure you also use your own words and ask for a response.
5. Make appointments – Make an appointment to meet your local MP and tell them in person why the Central Coast Deserves A Better Plan!
6. Share our infographics – They will be rolled out in coming weeks via our facebook page

Enough is enough! It is eight years since Central Coast residents and ratepayers were told that merging our councils would result in more funding, lower rates and better services. Now our natural assets – endangered and threatened species and their habitat, wildlife corridors and Aboriginal heritage, are being destroyed by a dysfunctional Local Environmental Plan.