Refusals followed proper assessment

A response to the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and their media release on the appeals rate of Gosford Council:

Mathew Wales highlights the number of appeals filed against Gosford Council in the business paper of June 5.

There were seven appeals as he rightly states.

One of those was from a proponent who appealed believing we would refuse his development which appeared on the same business paper, it was subsequently approved as there were no legitimate grounds for refusal.

All others were recommended for refusal after the proper assessment by the staff of council using the appropriate planning instruments.

There were many and varied issues including bulkiness, adverse impacts on amenity, the development not being a permitted use, fantastic trees being removed without the need to do so, heritage, density standards and even a company believing they did not have to comply with development conditions because they only applied to the previous owners.

I can only assume that Mathew Wales is not reading the reports properly or he is an anarchist that believes we should not have any controls at all, because all the developments recommended for refusal were outside the provisions of our planning controls.

Cr Geoff Preece