Chamber welcomes development review

The Peninsula Chamber of Commerce has welcomed Gosford Council's decision to review the new Gosford Development Control Plan in six months.

The new development controls were adopted at the council meeting held on Tuesday, December 3.

"The building and development industry has had long-running concerns over the new medium density development controls which will come into effect once the Gosford Local Environmental Plan is gazetted at the end of December," said Peninsula Chamber of Commerce president Mr Matthew Wales.

"Whilst Council has decided to adopt the new Development Control Plan, we were pleased that the resolution included provisions to review the applications lodged under those new controls after six months as a way of gauging their effectiveness.

"This was an important provision for the industry and provides a mechanism for council to make amendments that hopefully will address many of the concerns previously raised by the chamber in relation to development controls that we see may inhibit development outcomes.

"At a time when the building industry is clawing its way back from tough economic times, it is important to ensure that the new development controls facilitate new housing not inhibit it.

"The industry sees numerous problems with the new controls which we believe will make it harder to achieve site yields and render many medium density sites uneconomical.

"Whilst we recognise the need to lift the bar on development standards, it is important to remember that if design controls are too tough, developers will not buy and build, which may result in housing slowdowns and escalating prices as availability tightens.

"We are concerned that this may result in a slowdown in applications and a shortage in housing which could all effect affordability.

"Council's decision to review the number and type of applications is therefore extremely important so as to gauge whether the new controls are adversely affecting housing and development outcomes.

"Obviously council shares the chamber's concerns and we look forward to the close monitoring of new development applications over the coming months," said Mr Wales.

Media release, 3 Dec 2013

Matthew Wales, Peninsula Chamber of Commerce