Council says Transport for NSW has advised Council that a new train station at Warnervale is no longer proposed in their future plans.
With the new station axed, Council will scale down the size of town centre that was to grow around it.
The proposed Warnervale Town Centre was intended to provide key commercial and community services to the local population with access to train services via the new train station.
The local population is set to grow – the council expects the area to provide about one third of new dwellings on the Coast up to 2041.
With the station axed, Council envisages additional residential land to replace a reduced area of commercial zoned land.
The information is contained in Council’s Draft Greater Warnervale Structure Plan which includes 10 precincts from Wadalba to Charmhaven and west beyond Warnervale airport.
The current train station location is in precinct two and Council planned for it to be moved to precinct four.
About six weeks before the Coast’s councillors were suspended in October 2020, the train station was debated at a council meeting.
Cr Kyle MacGregor wanted the State Government to come forward and say whether it was going to build the new Warnervale train station like it had promised.
He said it was first mooted about 20 years ago and it simply hasn’t been delivered.
“If it isn’t going to happen we need to push for an upgrade of the current station in line with other upgrades such as at Narara and Lisarow,” he said at the time.
Then in February of this year, the council-under-administration again asked for clarity around the train station during a review of the State Government’s updated Central Coast Regional Plan.
Council wanted the plan to confirm the future of the proposed Warnervale Town Centre train station to allow existing planning to continue, or alternatively confirm its removal and allow planning in the vicinity to be revised.
“The Warnervale Town Centre has been designed based on the proposed train station, however Transport NSW have not progressed the development application and are suggesting it will be withdrawn,” Council said in February.
“It is considered the most appropriate outcome would be for the Central Coast Regional Plan 2041 to confirm the strategic need for a local station to enable the current planned town centre to proceed.”
The Draft Greater Warnervale Structure Plan will be tabled at the meeting of Council-under-administration.
If adopted by administrator Rik Hart the plan will go on public exhibition next year from late January for 60 days.
The study area currently has 20,162 residents and 6,783 dwellings (2021) but it is set to grow.
“It is proposed to accommodate an additional 34,924 residents and 11,680 dwellings in the future, as well as providing enough employment land to provide for an additional approximately 8,482 jobs,” the report says.
This is about a third of the overall future housing supply for the Central Coast, to 2041.
