Central Coast Council will celebrate strong post-merger development activity this festive season.

A combination of increased investment and decreased assessment times has resulted in an overall investment of over $600 million into the Central Coast region since the new Council was formed in May.

Council Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, said that the latest figures were a promising sign of things to come in 2017.

“These results are particularly pleasing, given all the hard work of our development assessment teams since the merger was announced in May,” said Mr Reynolds.

“Amidst the many changes taking place internally, their commitment to getting the job done and facilitating appropriate development right across the region has been second to none.

“In addition to the great results this year, there is currently over $500 million worth of development projects to go before the Joint Regional Planning Panel for their determination in the new year.”

Council’s Group Leader of Environment and Planning, Mr Scott Cox, said that while the 2016 results were positive, there is always room for improvement.

“This is the beginning of a significant journey for us in development assessment, improving the way we operate and ultimately, promoting sustainable growth and investment right across the Central Coast,” said Mr Cox.

“Since the merger announcement, Council has determined 1837 Development Applications – compared to 1600 in the 7 months prior to amalgamation across the two former Councils.

“We’ve also seen an increase in Section 96 determinations, with 396 applications processed post-merger.

“The benefits of changes in our processes are already being realised with the median determination times down as the development teams come together.

Council’s current median determination time sits at 38 days, below the State Government benchmark of 40 days.

The largest Development Applications determined since amalgamation are for mixed use and commercial buildings in the Gosford CBD including Creightons, Ikon Tower, the Australian Taxation Office building and Duttons.

A Developer’s Forum is planned for Monday 27 February 2017 to explore ways Council can better work with the industry to facilitate development opportunities on the Central Coast to meet our growing housing and employment needs.