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CENTRAL COAST
REGIONAL SNAPSHOT
2016
Environment
The continued demand for new housing within the constrained
geography of the Region could place pressure on the Central
Coast’s environment. The North Wyong Shire Structure Plan
Area covers land within the catchments of Lake Macquarie
and Tuggerah Lakes, the Porters Creek wetland and includes a
significant east–west regional biodiversity corridor. Planning in
this area, and throughout the Region, needs to minimise adverse
impacts on these areas and ensure future residents are not at
risk from hazards such as flooding, coastal erosion, bushfire
and changes due to climate change. Existing development is
concentrated along the coastline and coastal waterways and
already places pressure on these sensitive environments.
Securing the Region’s long-term water supply without
compromising the health of the Region’s rivers, estuaries and
lakes is a priority for the Central Coast. Population growth and
the demand for new housing must be managed to protect the
natural environment, the Region’s biodiversity, its agricultural
and resource lands and its Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
cultural heritage.
The western half of the Region (west of the F3 Freeway) is
largely comprised of the Central Coast plateaus and Wyong
valleys. These lands support agricultural production and contain
water supply catchments which must be protected from urban
and rural residential uses. The natural environment also includes
a number of resource areas that need to be balanced with
biodiversity values.
The key environmental challenges identified in the Central
Coast Regional Plan 2036 include:
• Recognise the cultural landscape of the Central Coast
• Protect and enhance productive agricultural land
• Secure the productivity and capacity of resource lands
• Sustain and balance productive landscapes west of the M1
• Protect and manage environmental values
• Sustain water quality and security
• Protect the coast and manage natural hazards and
climate change
Urban Growth Pressures
The Region’s waterways, topography and conservation areas, along
with important resource lands, limit the expansion of the urban
footprint. This means that future growth will largely be contained
within existing settlement areas, apart from nominated greenfield
areas. In planning for growth and change, the Central Coast Region
faces a number of challenges in relation to water supply, economics
and transport, the environment and population centres and housing.
Residential Housing Activity
The Department of Planning and Environment Housing Monitor
Reports provide information on residential housing activity in
Sydney and the Central Coast. The Housing Monitor Reports
contain information on the total number of dwellings approved
and completed, where dwellings are being approved and built,
types of dwellings that are being built and land available for future
housing development.
Analysis of Housing Monitor Reports including housing approvals
and completion data indicates that the Central Coast housing
shortage is particularly prevalent in the Gosford area where
dwelling completion rates have not kept up with the projected
housing demand over the past several years. Whilst the Wyong
area has increased the dwelling completion rates over the past
several years it has also not kept up with population growth and
projected housing requirements.
It is pleasing to note that the Central Coast dwelling approvals
and completion rates show an upward trend over the past
several years, however analysis from the Property Council of
Australia in their ‘Missing the Mark - an audit of housing targets’
has found that:
“Building approvals still
lag behind targets on the
Central Coast”
• The Sydney North East subregion and the Central Coast
were the only areas in which the average annual rate
of approvals during 2011 to 2014 declined from their
decade average.”
The value of the housing industry to the Central Coast economy is
highlighted in the Property Council of Australia - ‘Missing the Mark
- an audit of housing targets’ report which states that “New home
construction is crucial to the State’s economic fortunes — as it
underpins growth, jobs and of course, affordability. The industry
generates one in 10 jobs in NSW and pays over $16 billion in
wages to workers and their families.”
Sustainable Communities and Population Growth