Chamber supports PUDS premise

The Peninsula Chamber of Commerce has called on Gosford Council to move forward with the Peninsula Urban Directions Strategy (PUDS) following the council's decision last Tuesday to defer the document for further information.

"Certainly the business chamber is not completely satisfied with the PUDS document especially in the area of financial modeling and population projections," said chamber president Mr Matthew Wales.

"However, the time has come to move forward with review of the planning controls on the Peninsula lest we repeat the mistakes of the past.

"The PUDS document may not be perfect but it is a great improvement on the inadequate and outdated planning controls that we have at present.

"Many have been critical in recent years over medium density development which has largely been viewed as poor quality.

"This has created the perception of reluctance for further growth.

"The standard of medium density housing is largely attributed to the current local environmental plan (LEP) which is over 30 years old and has been amended over 350 times.

"The housing standards have also been heavily influenced by the very prescriptive DCP 100 that has fettered innovative design and created standard 'design boxes' in which all development must fit," Mr Wales said.

"There needs to be a review of the Gosford LEP and the freeing up of the DCP 100 controls so as to encourage both architects and designers to be more innovative in housing design and choice.

"In this respect, the business chamber supports the basic premise of PUDS which calls for fundamental change in the way we accommodate population growth and the provision of new housing on the Peninsula," said Mr Wales.

"Our position has always been that urban development should focus on the quality of the design and the provision of adequate infrastructure rather than quantity simply for the sake of housing people."

Mr Wales said that the chamber was very concerned with the premise that the true population growth figures for the Peninsula were much less that the previous estimates by council and the State Government.

"The down grading of the population growth figures over the next 20 years to somewhere between 5000 and 7500 people is a real concern," said Mr Wales.

"This is not to say that we support higher growth necessarily.

"This depends on the adequacy of the required infrastructure and ensuring that the quality and amenity of the Peninsula is protected.

"Our concerns lie with the current Contribution Plans (CP31) recently adopted by Gosford Council which is predicated on population growth of between 15,000 and 20,000 people.

"In this regard, planned parks and reserves, sporting fields, community facilities, open space, roads and drainage have been costed on this model.

"In fact, the almost completed Peninsula Leisure Centre (now costing some $29 million) has been financed on the assumption that the population of the Peninsula will grow to some 50,000 people," Mr Wales said.

"Such low population estimates contained within PUDS would clearly place Gosford Council in a substantial financial pickle which would require considerable adjustments to future funding sought through developer contributions and an obvious winding back of many of the planned community facilities.

"These population growth figures, when combined with proposed growth targets in other areas of the city, are also at odds with Council's population cap.

"It is the chamber's view that this philosophical position should be revisited so that mixed messages are not sent to the wider community and to government," said Mr Wales.

"And with regards to the community consultation process, despite criticism from some sections of the community, the consultants and the council staff did a pretty good job in communicating with the public.

"The PUDS process was well canvassed and the advertising periods extended to allow those who were interested to lodge submissions.

"We certainly submitted ours well within the required period.

"It seems to us that whenever someone doesn't get their way, they blame the consultation process and claim that the council has not been transparent.

"It's time to wake up and get on with the job.

"We've wasted too many opportunities already," said Mr Wales.

Press release, October 12 Matthew Wales, Peninsula Chamber of Commerce