The Woy Woy Peninsula is in crisis due to over-development and lack of tree canopy, says two local community groups.
Both were responding to a NSW Parliamentary Committee into the planning system and the impacts of climate change on the environment and communities.
One group says the Peninsula will rapidly become unsurvivable for both the community and the local environment unless both the State and Council immediately implement strict planning strategies.
Peninsula Residents Association (PRA) says local planning policies for the last 18 years have focused on development without regard to the environment and the effects on the community.
It says the net effect of non-compliant developments, with little regard for the environment, have left residents with a Peninsula dominated by concrete and bitumen – and rapidly becoming unlivable.
The Peninsula is an urban area with the lowest green density in the state at less than 10 per cent.
The State target for urban areas in greater Sydney is 40 per cent tree canopy for Greater by 2036.
PRA says Central Coast Council has:
(a) failed to enforce planning provisions which supported plantings.
(b) routinely allowed the removal of trees on developed properties and street verges, has not insisted on replacements, and has not followed up on vegetation requirements for development applications (DAs).
(c) given no clear direction and expectations for the development of the Peninsula in local planning documents.
PRA says over-development of sites, arising from compromising planning standards, is now normal practice and has led to an absence of green space.
It criticised the Council-under-admininistration’s recent consolidated Local Environment Plan/Development Control Plan which substantially departs from the greening provisions of the previous DCP.
It includes smaller setbacks that give less space for trees.
PRA said Council strategies, such as Climate Change, Greener Places Strategy, Woy Woy Floodplain Study and Management Plan, are slow to be budgeted for, or implemented.
Council has a budget of only $40K per annum for trees for the entire Central Coast.
Another submission, by the Peninsula’s Grow Urban Shade Trees group (GUST) quoted from Council’s own Greener Spaces Strategy:
Between 2005-2014, canopy cover in Woy Woy decreased by 173ha, impervious surfaces increased by 84ha and unplantable space increased by 113ha.
“In (council’s) Tree Management team we only see action on tree removal approvals with no process for planting replacement trees and no street tree planting program,” GUST told the inquiry.
“Hence, this tree loss is having a devastating impact on the loss of tree canopy.
“Without a budget for tree planting, we are well behind other proactive councils in restoring canopy.”
A third submission, by resident Mark Snell, outlined a list of immediate actions needed:
- An increase in tree canopy
- An increase in open space
- Implementation of an integrated Peninsula-wide drainage program
- An increase in overland drainage opportunities
- Implementation of an integrated creek maintenance program
- Community-driven emergency planning, including attention to access and local facilities
Mr Snell also called for a comprehensive UCSW EEC (Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland endangered ecological community) program to be implemented.
He said the rare and endangered Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland was being incrementally diminished, due to the lack of a concerted integrated management plan with measurable objectives and involving the community and other stakeholders.
“Central Coast Council’s management of this woodland in its ownership is not transparent, nor is it in co-operation with the other landholders, or community members supporting its protection,” Mr Snell said.
“Its priorities do not correspond with the Save Our Species priorities of the Department of Planning and Environment.
“And as proponent of a recent Planning Proposal, it agreed to destruction of a significant private holding of this woodland, against Departmental advice.
“The council’s attitude to the natural environment including this rare bushland seems to be that it is considered a threat to infrastructure, rather than valuable infrastructure in its own right which contributes to the community’s natural resilience to climate change.”
Chair of the committee Sue Higginson MLC said in August 2023 when announcing the inquiry that it would look at developments in:
# flood and fire prone areas,
# areas vulnerable to rising sea levels,
#coastal erosion or drought conditions, and in areas that are
# threatened ecological communities or wildlife habitats.
“The inquiry will also examine the adequacy of planning powers and planning bodies to review development approvals, taking into account the cumulative impacts of development, climate change, natural disasters, biodiversity loss and changing social, economic and environmental circumstances,” she said.
More than 200 people responded to the inquiry, including Central Coast Council and residents from the Woy Woy peninsula and Wamberal beach.
