Central Coast Council met on Tuesday May 6 and voted to ask the NSW Premier to declare a State of Emergency for the Central Coast’s beaches by 3pm Friday, May 9.
The adopted motion saw Council call on the Premier of NSW to declare a state of emergency due to severe coastal erosion across Central Coast beaches posing significant widespread and ongoing risk to lives and property.
It also called on the minister for emergency services to issue a natural disaster declaration over the Tuggerah Lakes flooding of May 2025.
The council wil convene a further extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, May 13 in the event that the Premier does not declare a state of emergency by 3pm on Friday, May 9.
The aim of the extraordinary meeting will be for staff to report on possible solutions and for Council to decide on actions.
Council recognised that it was impractical in a coastal erosion emergency for affected owners to submit development applications for approval of even temporary emergency works due to statutory obligations and timeframes and it called on the state government to develop rapid approval frameworks to cater for residence in such situations.
The fifth point of the motion was council requested an urgent meeting with the Premier, relevant state ministers and relevant federal government representatives along with the mayor, the CEO and interested counsellors.
That meeting was to be held no later than two weeks from the date of the May 6 extraordinary meeting.
The motion was adopted 8-7 with the liberals and Team Central Coast councillors supporting it and Labor and the two independents opposing it.
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