Councillors have been updated on the progress of the preparation of a Biodiversity Stewardship Site Assessment Report (BSSAR) for Porters Creek Wetland and the Warnervale Floodplain.
The Warnervale Airport Masterplan, adopted a year ago, states that: ‘’The establishment of the Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement for Porters Creek Wetland and the surrounding ecologically sensitive land with an estimated total fund deposit of $19 million will potentially create employment opportunities for 4 research students, 1.5 full time Council roles, 3 full time professional consultants and 16.5 seasonal contractor roles for bush regeneration and biodiversity management.’’
Action 4 of the Airport Master Plan is to ‘Submit the Biodiversity Certification Assessment Report (BCAR) to the State Government for approval’.
The update states that a BCAR was lodged with the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water on 23 December 2025 to support the development of the Central Coast Airport Master Plan.
The BCAR proposes a Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement (BSA) over Porters Creek Wetland to support future development of the airport in terms of providing the necessary biodiversity credits.
As a separate process a masterplan for the Warnervale Floodplain is planned to commence in 2026/27.
‘’The BCAR, BSSAR and Warnervale Masterplan documents interact with each other and are being strategically planned together to ensure consistency,’’ the report states.
‘’It is likely that the BSA process will be completed before the masterplan with the two documents complementing each other.
‘’The masterplan will provide guidance for the management of the entire floodplain, however management of the parts of the floodplain covered by the BSA will be undertaken in accordance with the agreed management actions in the BSA.’’
Eco Logical Australia Pty Ltd has been engaged to prepare the BSSAR under a contract ending 9 February 2027, the report states.
The proposed Stewardship site comprises almost 1000 ha of Council-owned land (a mix of operational and community classified land) on 34 lots.
The site is a freshwater wetland with forested wetland and dry sclerophyll forests.
‘’There are historically cleared and highly disturbed areas, some of which represent an ecosystem restoration opportunity and some of which will not form part of the stewardship site,’’ the report states.
‘’The site is surrounded by residential and industrial land uses and contains rail and road transport corridors and above and below-ground infrastructure, making it a complex site for a conservation agreement.
‘’There are four stages to the project.’’
Stages 1 and 2 cover the initial desktop assessments and field work to do a site audit and confirm vegetation community mapping.
These stages will be complete by March 2026, according to the report.
Future work will include detailed collection of biodiversity value data, land management planning, document preparation and lodgement of a Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement application.
Regular liaison with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water will occur over the next 12 months, the report states.
It was tabled at a committee meeting on March 3 and is expected to be noted at the next council meeting.
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