Central Coast Council said feedback indicated overall support for the revitalisation of the Gosford waterfront, with 59.4% of participants across the
interactive map and feedback form supportive of the concept plan (22.1% neutral and 18.5% not supportive).
A four page summary of the feedback will be tabled at the December 13 meeting.
Comments in the summary included:
- “There are options that don’t involve cars – improved options for walking, self-powered transport or public transport should all be
encouraged as a way to minimise the need for cars and parking.” - “Traffic and parking solutions are key for this to succeed. Is it possible to design carparking away from the area with a designed
pedestrian approach to the waterfront.” - “This appears to be a sell off of public land for private benefit. This clearly is loss of public land despite the claim ‘ public land will be
created’.” - “I am not averse to the concept of residential and commercial development on the waterfront – like Honeysuckle in Newcastle
and Woolloomooloo finger wharves in Sydney, on one proviso. It is imperative that such partial-privatisation of what is public space,
should offer significant public benefit derived from such enterprises. Community should not be expected to sell the crown jewels to pay
for someone else’s gain. Other proposals have come and gone, let’s work together see this become reality.” - “Great to see a shared path directly joining Point Clare to Gosford. This will make it easier for walkers, runners and cyclists to get into and out of Gosford, including commuters, social and recreational riders. Also this could be quite a draw card for tourists from Sydney/Newcastle and beyond.”
- “I think this is just what Gosford needs and is long overdue. This would make me proud of this city I live in.”
- “Gosford has the potential to be a great waterfront city, so providing more waterfront housing
opportunities for people needs to be forefront. This will greatly benefit the local night life and general
foot traffic in the area for local businesses, and pier developments have been completed tastefully in other
cities such as Newcastle. We just need to make sure they have architectural merit – so Gosford is properly
facelifted!”
The summary includes answers to what must have been common questions such as “What is the plan for the Central Coast Highway” which cuts the waterfront off from the regional park along that section from the roundabout at the stadium up to Poppy Park.
Council said the Central Coast Highway is a State Government asset so changes to the highway will be at the discretion of Transport for NSW and the State Government.
Another question was: Why is public land being used for residential development?
Council said both public and private investment is crucial for a project of this size and nature to be a success.
“When private investment is considered, both residential and commercial development is essential to attract financial investment from the private sector. Residential development also has the benefit of additional passive surveillance and additional foot traffic.
Were recreational opportunities a core element of the Gosford waterfront revitalisation? Council replied: The site provides an additional 1.6 hectares of reclaimed land specifically for children’s play areas, public amenities, shared pathways, picnic areas, fitness zones, water play areas and an amphitheatre.
At this stage, there was no answer to a question raised on the interactive concept plan about what would happen to Gosford Bowling Club – on the plan it is replaced with a hotel.
A total of 2084 reactions were placed on the interactive concept plan (1797 thumbs up and 287 thumbs down) and 380 feedback forms completed.
Council said letters of support for the project came from industry stakeholders representing 24,450 businesses; 19 people attended 3 drop-in information sessions and 52 people registered to participate in virtual drop-in information sessions.
Council is working on a detailed analysis of the feedback and will use that to refine the concept plan.
The results are proposed to be made available to Council-under-administration in the first quarter of 2023.
