We have added a new "Category" ,called Climate Change, to our "Information" section . The first article in this new category is
"The Answers to Global Warming Scepticism" by Heather Hughes.

The CEN has produced a number of fact sheets about important issues in the Draft Gosford LEP. The fact sheets are designed to inform community members about issues of concern and assist in the preparation of submissions.

 Fact Sheets include:

 CEN_factsheet_1_coss_zoning_459.52 Kb

 CEN_factsheet_2_E_zones  365.68 Kb

 CEN_factsheet_3_biodiversity_clause_and_map  561.64 Kb

 CEN_factsheet_4_biodiversity_strategy_385.75 Kb

 CE_factsheet_5_native_vegetation_ 464.99 Kb

Environment Forgotten in draft

Gosford Local Environment Plan (LEP)

The Community Environment Network is critical of  the newly released
Gosford Local Environment Plan. The plan which complies with a new
government template was released by council and the Department of Planning
in February for two months of consultation.

Chairman of CEN, John Asquith said: " CEN has been in discussions with the
Council for over two years, seeking to have conservation lands better
protected and the mapping of vegetation and threatened species detailed in
the plan. However, despite many other councils including such details in
their plans, Gosford had stubornly refused to change and provide more
information to the public. "

In addition, the LEP reduces the zoning protection on important conservation
land and corridors to allow a range of unacceptable uses. Mr Asquith continued by saying: "The loss of environmental protection, inappropriate zones and lack of a long term strategic vision for the identification and protection of high conservation areas are contrary to a direction from the Department of Planning, advice from the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) , Council's Biodiversity Strategy and Vision 2020 and the Central Coast Regional Strategy".

The draft Gosford Local Environmental Plan 2009 (DLEP 2009) and draft
Development Control Plan (DDCP 2009) is now on public exhibition until 8
April 2010. More information is at:
http://www.gosford.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/draft-local-environmental-plan-2009/

Maps that show the environmentally sensitive lands as an overlay on the roads and the suburban land boundaries are now available from CEN (see links below). The maps, which are in six separate sheets, cover most of the suburban area of Gosford LGA including the beaches and peninsula. The scale is 1:20,000 (if they are printed on A3 paper) which is the same as the maps which accompany DLEP 2009.

The maps show endangered vegetation which is at risk of extinction (Threatened Ecological Communities). The maps also show COSS land - Gosford's Coastal Open Space System of over 4000 hectares of natural bushland reserves. This is Council owned land "which contributes significantly to the protection of the Central Coast's rich biodiversity" [quote from GCC Community Annual Report 2009].

Why is Gosford City Council refusing to include this information in the DLEP maps which are on exhibition when almost all other councils in NSW, whose DLEP has been or is currently on public exhibition, have included sensitive land maps as DLEP overlays?

It is also important for residents to understand that the inclusion of these maps in Gosford DLEP 2009 will result in a greater level of protection for the environment of our local government area than will occur with the currently exhibited version.

Click on the Index Index Map(PDF 189Kb) to find  the appropriate map for your area:

Map 1 (PDF 789Kb) Map 2 (PDF 736Kb Map 3 (PDF 624Kb)
Map 4 (PDF 676Kb) Map 5 (PDF 756Kb) Map 6 (PDF 406Kb)

The Central Coast ‘Land for Wildlife’ program is now offering free, and low-cost, bush regeneration services in specific corridors of rural land in Gosford and Wyong Council areas. See maps below.

  The offer is part of a project funded by the NSW Environmental Trust named ‘Regeneration of Wildlife Corridors through Land for Wildlife’. The project hopes to persuade landholders in the corridors to join Land for Wildlife and receive one free day of bush regeneration and up to three further days at low cost. Land for Wildlife (LfW) is an Australia-wide program supporting landholders who provide habitat for native wildlife on their land. The Community Environment Network (CEN) is the NSW state coordinator of LfW, as well as running the Central Coast regional program. Gosford and Wyong Councils are currently funding the local LfW program. 

This months "Environmental Group of the month"  is:
Food Integrity Group (FIG)
Environmental Group of the Month is a new CEN initiative to help promote community based environmental groups.

If your group would like a feature story on the front page of the CEN website please
send suggested copy, your logo and images to : This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
All text should be in MSWord format and all images in .jpg (or similar) format.

The local population of the endangered Bush Stone-curlew is declining in numbers. The data gathered at each census is very important as it allows us to estimate the number of individual birds in the population.

The  census was conducted in the Davistown area on the evening of Wednesday 5th August 2009.

To learn more about the  Bush Stone-curlew download fact_sheet(PDF_536Kb)

To learn about the Bush Stone-curlew Recovery Plan download RecoveryPlanBushstonecurlew(PDF_1MB)

To read the "Curlew Crier" newsletter go to: Information/CEN Publications/Curlew Crier

Seagrass meadows are disappearing at an accelerating pace, according to a new report, which is the first to look at the problem on a global scale.

While marine ecologists have been measuring localized seagrass loss for decades, they had never before pooled their information to get a global perspective. So a team led by Michelle Waycott of James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, Australia pooled data from 215 regional studies, from 1879 to 2006.

To read the full article go to  New Scientist