Gosford meeting to oppose Council land sell-off

A public meeting will be held at 7pm on Tuesday, January 19, to bring together groups and residents who are opposed to Gosford Council's sell off of public land.

Gosford councillors voted on September 8 to proceed with the first stage of a public land sell-off and on November 10 council voted to proceed with stage two.

Save Central Coast Reserves spokesperson Ms Sue Chidgey said the decisions were made "without any overarching strategy or public consultation".

"Gosford Council has identified land from Umina to Forresters Beach in a list of sites that have been identified as having sale potential, with 'no further use to Council and having little community benefit'," Ms Chidgey said.

Resident groups have sprung up in opposition to the proposal with public group Save East Gosford Reserve attracting over 420 members in just a few weeks.

"Already, a few more groups have formed to campaign for the protection of some of the reserves.

"The community needs to check whether one of the listed reserves is in their neighbourhoods," she said.

"We are extremely concerned about the lack of transparency around this process," said Jane Smith, from the Community Environment Network.

"Council has not exhibited any strategy about their public land sell-off.

"They have refused to consult with local communities, neighbourhoods and stakeholders about how they value these lands.

"The community expects transparency from Council in their processes and that they value the community's input in the first instance, not as an afterthought.

"Council has not notified local communities of their plans and residents have slowly found out through articles in the press, social media and by word of mouth," she said.

According to Ms Smith, to date, 31 lots of public land are under threat.

"Many of these are valued by local communities for recreation, open space or environmental values.

"The only public exhibition will be to reclassify community land to operational land so that it can be sold.

"However, this process won't notify that the land is earmarked for sale."

The Public Meeting is on Tuesday, January 19 at 7pm at the Anglican Church, 3 Manns Street, Gosford.

Residents are welcome to attend and hear from representatives of groups who have already formed to campaign against the loss of their local reserves, parks and greenspaces.

The Meeting has been organised by Save East Gosford Reserve, Save Central Coast Reserves, Friends of Winter Close, Save Jumbuck Crescent Reserve and the Community Environment Network.

An umbrella facebook page, Save Central Coast Reserves has also been created to give residents across Gosford LGA access to information.

The facebook pages that are behind the community campaign include Save Central Coast Reserves, Save East Gosford Reserve, Save Jumbuck Crescent Reserve and Friends of Winter Close Reserve.

Media release, 1 Jan 2016

Sue Chidgey, Save Central Coast Reserves