Peninsula to get strategy

Minister for Urban Affairs and Planning, Dr Andrew Refshauge, has announced that a State Government planning team will undertake a special planning strategy for the Peninsula.

He told the Central Coast Moving Forward forum earlier this month that a case had been made for special attention to be paid to the Peninsula.

"The community in this area has indicated that it has a number of concerns, including population growth in the area, medium-density housing and urban design," said Dr Refshauge.

"We will be looking to address those concerns in partnership with Gosford Council through such things as:

- re-examining the relevance of existing residential controls,

- assessing the state of existing physical and human services infrastructure and determining priorities for improvement,

- investigating urban renewal opportunities to revitalise town centres,

- investigating transport needs, and

- preparing an Urban Design Framework to improve the built outcomes and create a stronger sense of place."

Dr Refshauge said: "To reinforce these intentions, Gosford Council and the Department are currently developing a proposal to revitalise the Ettalong area on the Woy Woy Peninsula under our Urban Improvement Program."

A new Department of Urban Affairs and Planning office with a staff of four would be established at Gosford by the end of January, with priorities which would include the Peninsula plan.

Member for Peats Ms Marie Andrews has welcomed the announcement.

"This is particularly heartening news for residents of the Woy Woy Peninsula who have expressed their concerns over the degree of medium-density development occurring in this compact area," she said.

"It is my firm belief that we will now see more good old commonsense used in planning proposals for the Woy Woy Peninsula."

Cr Lynne Bockholt said: "It was refreshing to hear the Minister nominate the current state of development on the Peninsula as one of the main reasons for the establishment of the Gosford office of DUAP.

"This is timely as local residents are getting increasingly desperate at what they see in the streets around them."

The overwhelming feeling was that the Peninsula was being covered with concrete to the detriment of our lifestyle and amenity, she said.

Dr Refshauge said it was no longer appropriate to build lifeless dormitory suburbs where people slept and lived only on the weekends.

"A strong message we are getting is that people are not opposed to development per se, they are opposed to poorly-planned and poorly-designed development.

"We need to be ever vigilant that we don't destroy the unique natural assets which attract people to the Coast.

"And we have to prevent burying the Coast in a landscape of bricks, tiles and bitumen."

December 12