Memorial Ave park not included in community land plan
A park in Memorial Ave, Blackwall, is one of round 175 blocks of council-owned land on the Peninsula that have not been recommended for classification as "community land".
The blocks are included on the 2014 Gosford Council land register but are not listed in Central Coast Council's draft Plan of Management for Council Community Land, currently on public exhibition.
The land includes the park at 23 and 23A Memorial Ave, Blackwall, the site of protests when Central Coast Council proposed to sell it as part of its "asset sales" program.
It, along with a number of other pocket parks on the Peninsula, was removed from the sale list in July 2021 following a community outcry.
However, unlike most of the other parks, the Memorial Ave park has not been included in the list of "community land" to be protected under the draft plan.
The study compared land listed in the draft plan with Gosford Council's 2014 Land Register, which includes operational land.
Unlike community land which Council director Dr Alice Howe describes as "council-owned land that is held in perpetuity for community use", the Memorial Ave land is classified as "operational" and may be sold at any time.
Other pocket parks that remain as operational land include parks at 10 Macleay Ave and 128A North Burge Rd, Woy Woy, and at 10A Edgecliff Rd, Umina.
Car parks account for 30 of the parcels of land which are not included in the draft plan.
Land described as "drainage reserve" accounts for 93 of the blocks that are also left out of the draft plan.
However, another 26 drainage reserve blocks are proposed for inclusion as community land.
The plan includes council-owned buildings, such as the Woy Woy Environment Centre, the Frail and Aged Centre and the Women's Health Centre in MacMasters Rd, the Ettalong Beach Arts and Crafts Centre in Kitchener Park and the Woy Woy Swimming Pool (Peninsula Leisure Centre).
Other council-owned buildings are not included in the draft plan, including Ettalong Senior Citizens Centre, the Ettalong Guide Hall, the Ettalong Scout Hall, the PCYC Umina, Umina Child Care Centre, the Umina Community Hall, the new Umina Men's Shed is Osborne Ave, the Woy Woy Community Centre and the Before and After School Care in MacMasters Rd,
Umina and Woy Woy Libraries, as well as the Woy Woy Tip.
The plan does not explain why some parcels of land are included and other similar parcels are not.
SOURCE:
Website, 3 Feb 2023
YourVoiceOurCoast, Central Coast Council