Central Coast Council is looking to activate town centres and deliver housing choice for its growing community. Council held its first ever Developers Forum yesterday to help get the development industry on board with meeting that challenge.

Over 140 industry leaders and development representatives were given an overview of the key growth challenges on the Coast and directly asked how Council could better work with them to deliver the right housing, employment and environmental outcomes for the community.

Council Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, said he was pleased with the interest from the development sector to explore ways to improve planning processes to ensure we get the right development in the right place while maintaining the enviable Coast lifestyle.

“Yesterday we started a conversation about how Council and the sector can work together to deliver the housing and infrastructure our extra 70,000 new residents will need,” Mr Reynolds said.

“We need to ensure our planning controls and policies deliver the development we want – sustainable and innovative – and that developers are able to build.

“We need to get developers on board with our real and exciting plans to activate our town centres and public spaces and to make the Coast the very best it can be.”

Council Group Leader Environment and Planning, Mr Scott Cox, said the forum was a great opportunity to get direct feedback on Council’s various planning and development controls and how they can be best meet the needs of the Coast.

“We need to provide 41,500 additional houses by 2036 to meet the population increase on the Coast and the Premier has already set the benchmark at 40 days to turn housing DAs around.

“I told the forum yesterday, Central Coast Council is aiming to beat this standard, so Council is not standing in the way of new housing and we can get sustainable development in this area moving faster.”

Council Group Leader of Assets, Infrastructure and Business, Mr Mike Dowling, outlined key projects underway on the Coast to support the increasing number of housing and jobs the Coast will need to continue to thrive and prosper, including the Tuggerah Regional Sporting Complex, Central Coast Airport, Regional Performing Arts Centre and Regional Library in Gosford.

Due to the high interest in attending the forum, Council is planning on holding an overflow session for those who couldn’t make it to the initial meeting.