Peninsula heritage makes up half of new items

Almost half of new heritage items identified in the Gosford area have been found on the Peninsula.

Sixty two of the 132 new items listed in the 2016 Gosford Community Based Heritage Study were located on the Peninsula.

Central Coast Council will now prepare a planning proposal to amend the Gosford Local Environmental Plan 2014 and Interim Development Order 122 to include the items.

In adopting the study, council administrator Mr Ian Reynolds also resolved to investigate potential Heritage Conservation Areas at Patonga and Pearl Beach.

If the NSW Minister for Planning approves a gateway determination, Central Coast Council will need to undertake community and government agency consultation, before considering a further report and officially including the new items in the Gosford Local Environmental Plan.

Items that will be listed as being of local significance on the Peninsula included: two Norfolk Pines on the site of the Booker Bay Cemetery; Governor Arthur Phillip's landing point on Lobster Beach; Patonga Progress Hall; significant trees along the foreshore reserve adjacent to Bay Street, Patonga; the shop at 13 Bay St, Patonga; and the Juno Point military site at Croppy Point, Patonga.

Other new listings included the bushfire brigade headquarters and fire boatshed on the Patonga Creek Foreshore at the end of Jacaranda Ave, Patonga; the old school house at 10 Jacaranda Ave, Patonga; the Crommelin Biological Research Station, 75 Crystal Ave, Pearl Beach; the Pearl Beach Rock Pool; the boathouse and wharf at the intersection of Central Ave and Phegan's Bay Rd, at Phegan's Bay.

Pretty Beach Wharf and Pretty Beach Public School have also been added to the list of local heritage items along with the baths and change rooms on the corner of Pretty Beach and Heath Roads.

The Basalt Quarries Ltd railway in Brisbane Water National Park near Woy Woy tip at South Woy Woy was also considered worthy of listing, along with the Umina CWA at 2 Sydney Avenue and the Ocean Beach Hotel.

The former rural bank building at 32 Blackwall Rd, Woy Woy and Woy Woy Public School have also deemed to be important heritage landmarks on the Peninsula.

The Waterfall Bay rock carving in Waterfall Bay which is off Woy Woy Bay was considered an item of significant local heritage value.

So too was the Woy Woy Railway tunnel, Woy Woy Rd and the Woy Woy demolition tunnel and chamber which is located above the northern portal of the Woy Woy Tunnel.

Houses, boatsheds and other landmarks made up the remainder of the Peninsula's newly-listed heritage landmarks.

The Gosford City Community Based Heritage Study was undertaken to fulfil the former Gosford Council's statutory responsibility to manage its local heritage.

The Peninsula items are part of a total list of 136 new items of local significance identified throughout the former Gosford LGA.

The process for identifying and listing heritage properties through a Community Based Heritage Study involved three stages.

Council completed the identification and exhibition of the potential heritage items in accordance with the NSW Office Environment and Heritage for community based heritage studies.

The former Gosford Council's Heritage Officer and a heritage consultant engaged with individual owners of proposed heritage items about the draft report and management recommendations prepared for their property for four months (October 2015-January 2016) and involved public forums and private site visits.

On February 12, 2016 the then Chief Executive Officer of the former Gosford Council approved, under delegation, a draft list of heritage items for public exhibition.

Public exhibition (including letters to owners of potential heritage items) occurred for an eight week period between March and April 2016 and resulted in some properties being removed from the list.

Another 19 properties, primarily houses, throughout the Peninsula have had their inclusion on the local heritage register deferred either due to flood mapping issues or until after the September 9 Council election in the interests of transparency.

Central Coast Council agenda item 2.1, 24 May 2017