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Collapse Issue 512:<br />8 Feb 2021<br />_____________Issue 512:
8 Feb 2021
_____________
Collapse  NEWS NEWS
Centrelink move to Woy Woy heralds 'new era' - Wicks
Tesch condemns Ettalong service centre closure
Public inquiry could be held into Central Coast Council
Tesch calls for public inquiry into 'failed amalgamation'
Busy Australia Day for Marine Rescue
Lions Club 'astounded' by cake sale success
Real estate agent tells of Peninsula challenges
Proposal adds car spaces and mezzanine to Umina Mall
South St proposal attracts second-most comments
Council administration extended three months
Administrator releases three-month report
Referendum on having nine councillors
Celebrating 60,000 years of human history
'But the dog ate my ... cake'
Ferry has hull restored
Posthumous OAM to Geoff Melville
Honour for service to women in business
Car boot sale resumes after long break
Umina Community Group receives recognition
Arts and crafts centre seeks a treasurer
Men's Shed provides a mower that cannot be started
Grant to paint Patonga hall
Peninsula events for women's festival
Next year's leaders chosen for Woy Woy Rotary club
Men's Shed seeks trainers and teachers
Working bee at arboretum
Cherished model yacht successfully restored
January rainfall one third below average
Collapse  FORUM FORUM
Open letter to acting Council CEO
Display raised a record $1956
Democracy is fragile: be careful what you wish for
Is PUDS dead?
Collapse  HEALTH HEALTH
Aged care man visits his parents
Rotary club continues music therapy project
Three aged care residents turn 100
Hospital offers nursing diploma scholarships
Coronavirus testing starts at Sea Scouts hall
Solicitors donate time to helicopter rescue service
Visitor restrictions relaxed
Collapse  ARTS ARTS
Talent agencies seek extras in Umina
Students complete first lesson in watercolours
Collapse  EDUCATION EDUCATION
Rotary club donates backpacks to Umina campus
Reading for 10 minutes a day 'makes a difference'
Umina school holds swimming carnival on Friday
Collapse  SPORT SPORT
Philip Westcott named Ettalong bowler of the year
Men's Fours decided at the Everglades
State bowls championship starts Wednesday
Australia Day Pairs bridge results
Southern Spirit cricket results
Bridge events planned
Ride from Woy Woy to Cowan
Selected for university rugby squad
Second round of Handicap Pairs
Activities resume at PCYC
Philip Westcott wins Bowler of the Year trophy

It's time for a strategy that will be taken seriously

Peninsula Urban Direction Strategy was adopted with great fanfare by Gosford Council in 2005 as the document defining the future development of the Peninsula.

The Strategy has never been rescinded and remains the only council document providing such "direction".

Unfortunately, the Strategy never was and, it seems, never will be unless there are changes.

It was treated as a masterplan when, in fact, it has not been good enough even to be a guide for the besieged resident or the public generally.

It overwhelmingly focuses on development, avoiding essential matters such as climate change, social issues, environmental issues and health issues.

The study acknowledges the Peninsula's "finite" limits, but regards those impediments as simply matters of roads and transport only.

The study is limited to bricks and mortar.

In 2005, public belief in the "character statements" belonged only to the new resident, yet retention of and compliance with this "character" was to be required of the Peninsula's future development.

The finite limits were exceeded with development approvals this year in Ettalong, yet reports on this historic event have not been recognised by the Administrator or planners from any authority.

The Strategy did not advise what action was to be taken when this milestone was reached The standards were meant to be permanent, despite countless population growth plans having been adopted since 2005.

Finite parameters have been exceeded.

This is reflected in the development and use of the Peninsula Leisure Centre, recreational and sports fields being subject to increasing demand and use, and the increasing public objection to proposed developments.

This has been assisted by a secret development assessment process and has resulted in the constant downgrade to residents' lifestyle.

The council has had an on-again off-again attitude to climate change.

There was international concern about climate change in 2005, yet the Peninsula Urban Direction Strategy downplayed this increasingly urgent matter.

It supported more Peninsula development on a coastal sandplain subjected to flooding.

A strategy is only as good as its implementation and enforcement.

There are now many examples of this not occurring on the Peninsula.

A planning strategy for the Peninsula is needed now more than ever, 16 years after the adoption of the Peninsula Urban Directions Strategy.

It's time for the Strategy to be reviewed, to be updated and taken seriously, or be replaced with a genuine new strategy that will be.





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