Environment Forgotten in Gosford

CEN Factsheets on  Gosford DLEP

The CEN has produced a number of fact sheets about important issues in the Gosford Draft 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 (PDF 460Kb)

CEN_Factsheet_2_e_Zones (PDF 75Kb)

CEN_Factsheet_3_Biodiversity_clause_and_Map (PDF 562Kb)

CEN_Factsheet_4_Biodiversity_strategy (PDF 386Kb)

CEN_Factsheet_5_Native_Veg (PDF 465 Kb)

CEN Submission

The CEN preliminary submission to Gosford Council  on the DLEP is now available for download.

Click on the following links to download submission and appendices.

CEN_Submission_on_the_Gosford_DLEP_2009(PDF 692Kb)

Appendix_1_Comparison_Table(PDF 182Kb)

Appendix_2_CEN_Recommended_Landuse_Tables(PDF 141Kb)

Suggestions for Submissions

CEN is encouraging residents of Gosford Local Government Area to write submissions to Gosford City Council about the DLEP. The best way to do this is to download suggestions_for submissions  and follow the guidelines in this document

It is important for residents to send copies of their submissions to all the councillors who will vote to either accept DLEP 2009 or vote to have it amended before it is sent to the NSW Dept of Planning.

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 DLEP 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 5 May 2010. More information is at:
http://lep.gosford.nsw.gov.au/

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 map (PDF 588Kb) 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)

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