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Collapse Issue 441 - 26 Mar 2018Issue 441 - 26 Mar 2018
Collapse  CHANNEL CHANNEL
Channel needs science, not amateur ideas, says CEN
Impasse remains over channel dredging
Protest sends clear message, says Crouch
Ettalong channel makes talkback radio
Second dredge motion defeated
Mehrtens and Holstein want comprehensive briefing
Beach erosion and silting 'not connected', says CEN
Collapse  NEWS NEWS
Council calls for rail underpass funding
Spiralling fuel prices spur local MPs to action
Get planning right with new scheme, says Mehrtens
Sporties' merger memorandum 'could take months'
Work starts on Killcare development
Waterfront group fights on against development
ACF branch objects to proposed nursing home
Children's charity receives grant
Easter sunrise service at surf club
Community group looks for secretary
Meals on Wheels holds open days
Progress on Rotary project in Uganda
Couple discovers link with celebrant
Collapse  FORUM FORUM
Why is council removing play equipment?
Mayor asleep while development proposed for bushland
I want my children's great grandchildren to play on sand
Liesl Tesch was respected and acknowledged
Outrageous variations of 75 per cent
Five-year street plan needed
Over-population cannot continue
Collapse  HEALTH HEALTH
Tilt recliner chair donated to aged care facility
Collapse  ARTS ARTS
Script submissions wanted
Artisans exhibition at Patonga
Much has changed, but constitution has not, says author
Folk club to hear story of young women's voyage
Sicilian ensemble at Italian festival
Collapse  EDUCATION EDUCATION
Dylan receives Nanga Mai award
Interact club raises $500 for Ugandan school
Pre-schoolers taught foreign languages
Forensic science at Woy Woy
Students clean up
Head lice need 'head treatment', says principal
School practices for online tests
Students in photography
Umina sends students to swimming carnival
Playground nears completion
Collapse  SPORT SPORT
John Roberts takes out singles championship
Nippers rewarded for collecting bottles and cans
Lexi wins bronze against 170 in under-9 flags
Shirts and Skirts Saturday bowls
Killcare Nippers finish their season

ACF branch objects to proposed nursing home

The Central Coast branch of the Australian Conservation Foundation has objected to the nursing home proposed for Hillview St, Woy Woy, in a submission to Central Coast Council.

"The development on this site in its entirety should be rejected and we call for the land to be compulsorily acquired by the State Government with the support of the Central Coast Council," said branch secretary Mr John Wiggin.

"The State Government has responsibility under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act for protecting Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland endangered ecological communities," Mr Wiggin said.

The foundation's submission said UCSW covers areas of the Hillview St site that were more significant than shown in the developer's application to Council "yet was discussed to be largely across the area of development by Justice Bignold in the Land and Environment Court case Providence Projects vs Gosford Council".

"Only around 11 hectares of UCSW remain anywhere in the world," Mr Wiggin said.

"The site of the original development was over 1.16 hectares, more than 10 per cent of this.

"This block of remnant vegetation was a gift of land to the Catholic Church which then sold it off to a developer who wished to make a quick buck, although the community acknowledged and recognised the significance of this vegetation and land and have fought to protect the land and its endangered ecological community.

"The community sentiment and the regional media in 2004 and beyond were very much opposed to the destruction of this rare bushland.

"Even the minister from the local church, in her prayer at the start of the council meeting and during sermons, asked that councillors be guided to care for the environment yet the church custodians of the time did not.

"The previous Gosford Council rejected the development, the Land and Environment Court rejected the development, and only after continued pressure from the developer over the next two years (2004 -2006), a development with a UCSW management plan was approved."

Mr Wiggin claimed that an undeclared conflict of interest cast doubt over that approval by Gosford Council.

"It could be expected that not declaring the potential or actual conflict was contrary to the local government code of conduct and the outcome might have been different if the councillors and council staff had been aware of this significant conflict.

"Hence the original development may well not have been approved," Mr Wiggin said.

He said the property had sat vacant for the past 12 years, and the management plan was not actioned, apart from signs stating its environmental importance.

Now the land had been sold, according to the Conservation Foundation's submission.

"The community has been fighting to protect the vegetation understorey and trees that form this endangered community on the current site for over 13 years," the submission said.

"Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland in the Sydney Basin Bioregion is likely to become extinct in nature in New South Wales unless the circumstances and factors threatening its survival or evolutionary development cease to operate.

"The number one risk factor is habitat loss through developmental pressures, exactly what is happening with the Hillview St land.

"The information accompanying the application is insufficient to justify the development, specifically providing inadequate detail of its environmental and economic impact."

The Foundation's submission also questioned why the developer has not included an Environmental Impact Statement for the Bush Stone-Curlew - also an endangered species under the NSW Threatened Species Act.

"This has been sighted on properties on two sides of the development site - the golf course on the other side of Hillview St and the secondary school on the other side of Veron Rd.

"It has also been seen in similar UCSW bushland, up the road at the other end of Hillview St.

"Only 20 individual birds of this species are estimated to exist on the Central Coast and its presence in the vicinity was not acknowledged in the original Species Impact Statement by Providence Projects or this current 2018 application.

"Further, part of the subject lot has also been identified to contain potential habitat for the following threatened fauna species, Glossy Black Cockatoo, Swift Parrot, Regent Honeyeater, Powerful Owl, Barking Owl, Masked Owl, Koala and the Grey-headed Flying Fox.

"The provisions of SEPP 44 were also considered by Council's Environmental Assessment Officer in the assessment of the original application and the following comment provided: 'The subject site is identified to contain potential koala habitat as defined under the provisions of SEPP 44 as eucalyptus robusta forms approximately 18 per cent of the existing canopy.' "

The ACF submission contended the current proposal had a larger building footprint, horizontally and vertically, than earlier proposals.

"Their bushland protection plan has not been acted on in 13 years and their plans show no cause not to continue the negligence of this significant state-protected vegetation," the submission said.





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