Draft Plan of Management for Council Community Land Update
Council owns around 2500 lots of community land. Community land is managed in accordance with Chapter 6 of the Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) and is categorised according to its core land management objectives. The way in which community land is managed and its categorisation is recorded in a Plan of Management (POM).
The categories included in Central Coast Council’s POM for Council Community Land are: Natural Area, Park, Sportsground, and General Community Use. Natural Area is further sub-categorised as Bushland, Escarpment, Wetland, Watercourse, or Foreshore.
A POM facilitates the use of Council community land by the public and the issue of leases and licences over community land. Any development on community land must also be consistent with the provision of the relevant POM.
Current Status
In the first half of 2023, a comprehensive, area-wide POM for Council-owned community land (the Community Land POM) was publicly exhibited and adopted. This POM replaced multiple plans that applied to different categories of community land in each of the former Gosford City and Wyong Shire areas. Around 2300 lots of community land are already included in the Community Land POM. Learn more about the 2023 POM here.
Around 10% of the lots included in the Community Land POM were commented on in community submissions. All comments were reviewed prior to the adoption of the POM to identify any risks to the land. For most lots, the proposed categorisation was deemed unlikely to negatively impact land management in the short term. However, it was recommended that the categorisation of these lots (the 10%) be reviewed in the future.
The Community Land POM is now being updated with the following objectives:
a. Review the categorisation of land for which submissions were received when the existing Community Land POM was put on public exhibition,
and
b. Categorise a further 160 lots of land for the first time, including 78 Lots of operational land reclassified as community land in January 2024
A process of early engagement with community organisations that had provided commentary during the development of the Community Land POM was held in early 2024. An additional review was also undertaken with internal stakeholders with detailed knowledge of land management practices and of future intended land uses. As a result, 110 lots are being proposed for re-categorisation in whole or part.
A consolidated list of proposed changes and additions has been prepared as the Community Land POM Update Land Schedule, and mapping of the lots in the Community Land POM has been finalised. Both the Land Schedule and the Maps form the centrepieces of the proposed community consultation.
The Land Schedule and the Maps can be found in the Key Documents area of this page.
Feedback has indicated that the community wants a greater level of detail as to how land has been categorised. More information is available in the attachments to the 27 August 2024 Council Report, accessible via a link from Key Documents.
Have Your Say
Between Tuesday 24 September and Monday 25 November the POM Update Land Schedule will be on public exhibition. As a member of the community, you can have your say by
- Choosing to attend a public hearing and provide feedback
- providing a submission via the online submission form
- providing a submission via email: ask@centralcoast.nsw.gov.au
- posting your submission to: PO Box 20, Wyong NSW 2259.
Three public hearings will be held to provide a forum for the public to discuss parcels of community land that are part of the POM Update. The public hearing details are as follows:
Wyong – Thursday 14 November 2024 at 6:00pm – 7:30pm – Wyong Golf Club, 319 Pacific Hwy, Wyong
Wamberal – Monday 18 November 2024 at 6:00pm – 7:30pm – Breakers Country Club, 64 Dover Rd, Wamberal
Links
Segmented Documents
POM Update Schedule of Community Land
POM Update Maps of Community Land
Attachments of Ordinary Meeting of Council Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Timeline
Who's listening
Community land owned or managed by Council includes a wide variety of properties, ranging from small recreation reserves to iconic parks, beaches, natural areas and community facilities.
Community land supports important aspects of community life and provides opportunities for recreation, leisure, community services and contact with the natural environment.
The Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) requires a Plan of Management (POM) to be prepared for all public land that is classified as ‘community’ land under that Act. A Plan of Management is an important tool for managing community land, which is written by Council in consultation with the community.
A POM categorises community land based on its characteristics and outlines how Council will use and manage the land. A POM provides a transparent and coordinated approach to public land management. A POM can be prepared for more than one area of land or a specific area or site. This POM is an area-wide POM which covers multiple parcels and sites of community land in the Central Coast LGA.
The Local Government Act requires a POM to:
- categorise all land covered in this POM into categories specified in the Local Government Act
- determine how Council will use and manage land covered in this POM, in a way that is consistent with the core objectives for each category under the Local Government Act and other laws that relate to the use of the land
- identify the objectives and performance targets for each category of land
- identify the means by which Council proposes to achieve the objectives and performance targets for each category of land
- expressly authorise leases, licenses and other estates that may be granted for each category of land, and specify any purposes for which a lease, licence or other estate may be granted only by tender under the Local Government Act.
The Local Government Act requires all land classified as community land to be managed and used in accordance with the POM applying to the land and any other laws regulating the use of the land. Most land owned by Council is classified as community land. Council also manages many Crown reserves as Crown Land Manager. A separate Plan of Management will cover these Crown Reserves.
Crown land is land that is owned and managed by the NSW (State) Government. Councils may also manage Crown land under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) for public land.
However, this Plan of Management pertains to the classification of Community Land which is both owned and managed by Council.
The Kincumba Mountain POM covers both Council owned and Crown land. Central Coast Stadium is a specialised high performance sports facility which is subject to a long term management agreement.
Community land cannot be sold. Council owned community land includes bushland, parks, reserves, playing fields and open spaces. The Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) Section 45 stipulates that a Council has no power to sell, exchange or otherwise dispose of community land.
For land to be sold, it must be classified as "operational land" not "community land". The current POM process is only focused on "categorising" and "recategorising" community land, not "classifying" or "reclassifying" it. This requires a completely different process and is unrelated to what is trying to be achieved with the current project.
Once the exhibition period has ended, the project team read and consider all submissions.
All land-specific feedback will be addressed and replied to by the project team.
The project team will then make appropriate amendments to the Plan of Management with these community comments in mind, before bringing back to Council for adoption.
Three public hearings will be held to provide a forum for the public to discuss parcels of community land that are part of the POM Update.
The public hearing details are as follows:
Please get in touch with Bronwyn Daley, Property Systems and Research Officer at plansofmanagement@centralcoast.nsw.gov.au to find out more.
The community is invited to submit general feedback as well as land-specific comments from 24 September until 25 November 2024 via:
- attending a public hearing
- the online submission form
- email: ask@centralcoast.nsw.gov.au
- post: PO Box 20, Wyong NSW 2259.
Classification dictates whether land is for operational use or community use. However, categorisation is purely to identify how the land identified for community use will be used i.e. bushland, parks, reserves, playing fields and open spaces.
The categorisation of community land has no bearing on whether the land can be sold. Only operational land can be sold.
Before a POM can be adopted by Council, it must be placed on public exhibition for at least 28 days. Submissions may be made to Council for a period of at least 42 days from the first day of public exhibition.