Former Gosford Council `let slip’ $12M in developer contributions
THE financial farce of the former Gosford Council’s final days continues to be laid bare, with latest bombshell revelations of it missing out on $12 million in developer contributions from two new major projects at Forresters Beach.
THE financial farce of the former Gosford Council’s final days continues to be laid bare, with latest bombshell revelations of it missing out on $12 million in developer contributions from two new major projects at Forresters Beach.
A councillor on the merged Central Coast Council has lifted the lid on a recent confidential briefing which revealed Gosford staff had been “bogged down” in a bank-up of minor development applications when it “let slip” millions of dollars in Section 94 developer contributions.
Independent councillor and real estate agent Bruce McLachlan, who promised to expose the “skeletons” of the former Gosford and Wyong councils if elected at last September’s local government ballot, said the briefing by senior council staff “reinforced” why the merger was “so important” for the Coast.
“Gosford was bogged down and failed in finalising all their developer contribution plans, resulting in situations like the major Forresters Beach Retirement Village and adjoining Allam Homes subdivisions paying not one cent in Section 94 contributions at a loss of $12 million to the community,” Mr McLachlan (pictured) said this week.
“Thankfully the merger is now dealing with these anomalies of the former councils.”
He said there was no suggestion of wrongdoing from both developers, but rather it was a “system failure”.
“If council staff are bogged down with minor DAs, then major programs and community infrastructure projects suffer, and all this adds to pressure on increasing residents’ rates,” Mr McLachlan, who was elected in The Entrance ward, said.
The Allam Homes project — given the green light in 2016 — is a 102-lot subdivision on a 11.3ha site on The Entrance Rd which once played host to a myriad of fun holiday attractions.
Plans are still before the council on Retire Australia’s proposed development of a three-storey complex with 75 “assisted care” apartments.
A Central Coast Council spokeswoman said it now had “no ability to impose contributions for the developments you have identified”.
“Council is currently in the process of reviewing the inherited contributions plans, with view to preparing new contribution plans for the Central Coast LGA, including the Forresters Beach area you have identified. That process is complicated and requires the input of significant resources,” the council spokeswoman said.
The latest revelations on Gosford Council’s system breakdown come after it was referred by the new council to the state’s corruption watchdog and NSW Auditor General for investigation last year when independent auditors were unable to find tens of millions of dollars in “alarming” mismanagement stretching more than a decade.
A report on Gosford’s finances for 2015-16 showed an overvaluation of assets led to a massive writedown of $1.39 billion — believed to be the largest ever for a council in Australia — as well as $74 million of land assets not found, $14 million missing from a library fund, and spending on roads, maintenance and services well short of what was allocated, as well as “significant weaknesses” in IT and other internal controls.
The former Gosford Council was also accused of illegally dumping near the Hawkesbury River for the past two decades.
The Express Advocate can reveal key performance data which shows the merged council is performing significantly better on planning matters in the former Gosford LGA since both of the region’s councils were sacked in May 2016.
Average DA approval times have gone from 87 days in 2016 to 55 days last year after Wyong staff took the helm of the merged council. In the former Wyong LGA, the average DA turnaround time worsened slightly over the past year, going from 33 to 36 days, but it was still well ahead of southern end of the region.
The new council approved $1.22 billion worth of DAs in the 2016-17 financial year, with a total of $68 million in Section 94 developer contributions.
As a comparison, Newcastle City Council approved just over $1 billion worth of projects in same period, with an average DA turnaround time of 55 days.
Gosford’s much-needed growth is set to be a hot issue at upcoming council meetings, with a rescission motion on the cards to try to reverse a controversial decision in late 2017 to reduce the trigger for a DA to go before councillors from 50 to 15 objections.
The policy change was driven by Labor councillors including Jeff Sundstrom, who says the “overall time for developments to go ahead won’t be drastically affected” by the move.
“The Labor councillors are pro-development; we just want to make sure any development which goes ahead is sympathetic and sustainable,” Mr Sundstrom said. “We know that development means jobs.”
However, Mr McLachlan said the “political games being played by Labor” will ultimately “erode” business confidence in the region.
“Influential Coast employers are viewing this new council as anti-business and reviewing their plans,” he said. “Confidence is the key to business stability and employment growth, and councillors need to be mindful their actions have a major ripple effect.
“Councillors either have a handbrake or an accelerator to the Coast economy.”
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