Chamber welcomes regional plan

The Peninsula Chamber of Commerce welcomed the recent release of the NSW State Governments Regional Plan for the Central Coast through to 2036.

"The Peninsula Chamber is mindful of the need to have a firm blueprint in place for population growth on the Central Coast especially now that the growth projections have been revised upwards", said Chamber president Mr Matthew Wales.

"The new Regional Plan is a key document that will help the new Central Coast Council come to grips with what is needed to accommodate growth, improve investment opportunities and create jobs," Mr Wales said.

"This plan is especially important to the Peninsula as we have traditionally been expected to take our fair share of medium density housing development," he said.

"It is important that Council ensure that adequate funding is made available for key infrastructure including roads and drainage if we are expected to take additional population growth.

"It is obvious that the area is already struggling to cope with increased levels of traffic with a lack of funding for key roads and intersections.

"We all aspire to a sustainable future but that has to be backed up by appropriately-funded projects that deliver better roads, better drainage and better community facilities.

"The Regional Plan is a good step forward but this now needs to be supported by the Central Coast Council with revisions to both the Gosford and Wyong Local Environmental Plans and a major overhaul of the current Development Control Plans which fall short in providing adequate housing choice and flexibility in medium density development.

"It's pointless trying to accommodate more people on the Peninsula when you don't have an adequate suite of development controls that can properly accommodate for a range of housing including granny flats, dual occupancies, medium density villas and apartments," Mr Wales said.

Media release, 14 Oct 2016

Matthew Wales, Peninsula Chamber of Commerce