No big planning decisions, says council chief
Central Coast Council chief Mr Rob Noble has said that the council will not make "too many big decisions in relation to land use and planning" while under administration.
"But it is a little bit problematic in some ways because it is going to hold up developments," he said
Mr Noble said it could take years to rationalise the land use policies of the two former councils.
Meanwhile, he and administrator Mr Ian Reynolds said they had their hands full with "so many internal challenges at the moment".
"We have had a fabulous transition team working on the merger since November, so we are way ahead of others.
"Some have gone into a loveless marriage or a shotgun wedding," Mr Noble said of other forced council mergers across the state.
"I don't know if you could call ours a loving marriage but it has been cooperative.
"The challenges range from the completely different finance systems, IT systems, salary systems, organisational development and payroll," Mr Noble said.
Both councils had different processes for dealing with development applications, building applications and their regulatory functions, he said.
"So gradually all these things are being looked at with a view to ultimately a cooperative approach," he said.
By the time the community gets to vote for new councillors in September 2017, Mr Reynolds said he hoped to be able to hand over a cohesive and efficient organisation.
The merger of Wyong and Gosford Councils will not result in substantial changes to the planning or development assessment framework at this time, Mr Reynolds and Mr Noble said.
The principal local planning instruments remain in place, and applications for development and planning proposals will continue to be assessed in line with the existing relevant controls and legislation.
The community will still get to have a say through the public exhibition process as they have done in the past.
The Department of Planning and Environment released a document titled Guidance for Merged Councils on Planning Functions.
Council will operate within these guidelines while working on strategic projects which promote housing, transport and economic growth.
"There will be open and transparent decision making in this new Central Coast Council," Mr Reynolds said.
It will be left up to the elected representatives to do the serious work of coming up with new development control plans, local environment plans and all the other instruments of local government needed to deal with land use.
Meanwhile, the public has been told to keep interacting with council as it always had.
There's a temporary Central Coast Council website but it currently redirects to either the Gosford or Wyong Council site.
Phone numbers and services remain the same.
The next Central Coast Council meeting will be held at the Gosford chamber on Wednesday, June 8 at 5pm.
Interviews, 26 May 2016
Rob Noble, Central Coast Council
Ian Reynolds, Central Coast Council
Media release, 25 May 2016
Alison Ayres, Central Coast Council