Council has acknowledged the party political nature of its current council, in answering questions about complaints made to the Office of Local Government (OLG).
The NSW State OLG received 1801 complaints about 115 councils in 2024-25, compared to 1242 in 2023-24.
Central Coast Council came in at number 4 with 83 complaints.
‘’The current Council has a party-political make-up, which has the potential to raise interest and concerns on some matters and decisions made by Council, which may result in some complaints being made to the OLG from individuals or groups who disagree with some decisions,’’ Council said.
The OLG categorizes complaints under 15 key words.
The Central Coast complaints were made up of of the following key words;
Public land management – 1
Community services – 3
Structural reform – 1
Conflict of interest – 11
Council Governance – 7
Natural resource management – 26
Misconduct – 17
Financial management – 16
Environmental public health services – 2
Engineering services – 6
Regulatory powers – 2
Land use planning matters – 4.
Companion Animals – 6.
Customer Service – 15.
OLG Governance – 3.
Those numbers add up to more than 83 so complaints must have had multiple key words.
But what did people actually complain about?
Central Coast Council said it didn’t know.
‘’We can confirm that although OLG can refer complaints to Council – we actually received very few, hence there is limited to no visibility of the majority of the complaints,’’ Council said.
‘’OLG process is to look at complaints received and ascertain if they need to be pursued and/or forwarded to the relevant council – or if they are to be declined by the OLG.
‘’If you have any more questions you might like to talk to the OLG.’’
It also said:
‘’Given the peri-urban nature of the Central Coast, including significant areas of hinterland, coastline and estuary which interface with growth areas being developed to cater for the rapid population growth, it is not unexpected that there may be tensions and subsequent complaints about decisions made by Council in the area of natural resource management.
‘’Dealing with coastal erosion threats is a good example,’’ Council said.
It said it was also worth noting that the Central Coast Council – as one of the largest councils in NSW – unsurprisingly regularly tops the list of ‘volume’ statistics in many areas, from the number of dogs to surf rescues.
Complaints over the last decade:
2023-24 Central Coast Council had 48 complaints and that was number four on the list.
2022-23 Central Coast Council was top of the list with 71 complaints.
2021-22 Central Coast Council second with 92 complaints.
2020-21 Central Coast Council tops the list with 256 complaints.
2019-20 Central Coast Council fourth with 33 complaints.
2018-19 Central Coast Council second with 32 complaints.
2017-18 Central Coast Council second with 33 complaints.
2016- 17 Central Coast Council‘s first with 32 complaints.
Before the two councils were amalgamated.
2015-16
Wyong Shire Council fifth on the list with 44 complaints
Gosford City Council 11th with 25 complaints.
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