Council likely to agree to service station

A meeting of Gosford Council last Tuesday, July 8, has paved the way for a service station at Empire Bay, against the wishes of some residents, environmental groups, and councillors.

The developer has lodged an appeal with the Land and Environment court against the refusal of the development, an appeal which council solicitors say the council has little chance of defending successfully.

There are some issues including connection of the development to the sewerage system which the council decided needed to be checked, so a final decision was deferred until the next council meeting.

It is expected that the council will conditionally approve the development on July 22 before the scheduled date for the court case, which is August 6.

Councillors asked to see the plans for the development, but this was not possible as the plans were with the council's solicitors at the time.

Cr Daniel Cook said: "The right and proper thing to do is to hold off until we have the plans in front of us.

"I would not be happy with this unless it was undertaken to have this site connected to the sewer," Cr Cook said

Cr Craig Doyle thought the application should be consentually approved on the night.

"This is ridiculous, we don't have a hope in Hades.

"If we're going to condition it, that's what we should do rather than shirking our duties.

"This is a decision that was made in 1998 (when the site was zoned for use as a service station), not tonight.

"We've just got to make the best out of it," Cr Doyle said.

Cr Lynne Bockholt agreed with Cr Doyle.

She said: "We were told by our solicitors tonight that we have no chance and that's just the way it is.

"I'll be supporting approval with the conditions."

Two members of the public spoke to council on the night, both wanting council not to approve the development.

Their concerns were that the sewerage proposal was inadequate, with traffic conditions, and with the risk of spills to the environment.

Concern was also raised that the hours of opening (5am to midnight) were not restrictive enough, which would attract crime and disturb neighbours with noise.

Jonathan Reichard, July 9