Two years on from its major community consultation project ‘Let’s Talk Woy Woy’, Central Coast Council has completed a range of major works, upgrades and improvements throughout the Woy Woy town centre, with more projects currently underway.

Throughout the ‘Let’s Talk Woy Woy’ project, we received over 422 formal submission from 294 stakeholders, with over 100 community members attending one of our two drop-in information sessions.

This valuable feedback informed Council on a range of highly-anticipated projects including the development of the new state of the art Woy Woy Town Centre Wharf, road and infrastructure improvements, place activation projects, the formation of a Woy Woy Town Centre Strategy and much more.

Yesterday, Central Coast Council issued a media statement advising that the planned demolition of the playspace at Pelican Park Woy Woy has been put on hold to enable further consultation and engagement with the broader community. This statement provides more information about why the playspace was identified to be removed.

Council's plans to remove the existing play equipment followed an audit on playspaces that was conducted by an independent assessor. The audit identified that a number of components in the park did not meet current Australian standards and that the play equipment had passed its useful life.

The key concerns relate to the tree roots from the Taxodium tree located adjacent to the playspace that are currently impacting the existing playspace. The Taxodium tree’s roots grow in an upward direction which impacts the playspace’s softfall level of cushioning and are creating potential hazards. The tree roots also hinder new work from being undertaken without impacting the tree’s health and would also require a high level of financial investment to mitigate the issues.

The playspace is safe to use in the short term and will remain open.

Council is listening to the community and acknowledges the community’s concerns and questions around the playspace and other projects as part of Woy Woy’s masterplan, which will be addressed as part of upcoming engagement to consult with the broader community.

More information and details of the timing for the consultation will be released soon and all opportunities for community participation in engagement activities will be promoted.