ACF group calls for 'due process' in council land plan
Central Coast Council should "follow due process" with its draft Community Land Plan of Management, according to the Central Coast Australian Conservation Foundation group.
By not doing so, it is putting sensitive environments at risk, said group convenor Mr Mark Ellis.
"While the Council's process to date has focussed on categorising the land rather than its management, the Council has not followed the clear intention of the legislation," he said.
"The Local Government Act requires a Plan of Management to be prepared in consultation with the community.
"The council should have involved the community first in the management plan and then provided full details of its management of the land to be included and excluded."
He said that, whether or not the Council had met the letter of the law, it had clearly failed to establish a fully-fledged independent review and assessment of the draft Plan.
Mr Ellis said that insufficient information had been provided to date to justify changes to the management of the Council's community land.
This was especially the case at Blackwall Mountain where an existing comprehensive plan of management will be replaced with a "one size fits all" approach, with the reserve's biodiversity at stake, he said.
"A Plan of Management provides a formal, transparent and coordinated approach to public land management and is essential for managing community land."
Mr Ellis said: "The council's process need to be better planned and communicated, and more transparent in providing reasoning for the re-categorisation."
He said there needed to be more clarity as to what impact re-categorisation will have on future public land use.
"Any new or revised POM requires further community consultation that provides more than just the suggested legislated categories without any basis for change."
The Council should release its reasons why the specific re-categorisations were selected, hold further consultations and explain why communities were not involved in formulating the draft plan of management.
The community must have input and adequate time to understand any new draft to provide informed feedback."
Mr Ellis said the group was concerned with many aspects of the current plan of management and re-categorisation process.
The Council should establish a new properly-constituted hearing to make recommendations about the draft plan and submissions at the end of the process before proceeding any further.
SOURCE:
Media release, 16 Feb 2023
Mark Ellis, ACFCC