Council's Digital Audit Uncovers Thousands of Duplicate Files Halting Gosford Records

Central Coast Council's effort to digitise its planning and development records has run into a significant technical problem this week, with an internal audit identifying a large volume of duplicate image files embedded across project documentation — including files directly linked to the Gosford CBD renewal precinct. The duplication issue, which affects scanned maps, site photographs and engineering diagrams stored in the Council's online records management system, has slowed retrieval times and raised concerns about document integrity ahead of several pending development applications.

The timing matters. Council is still rebuilding institutional trust after emerging from state-appointed administration in 2021, and its digital records systems are under closer scrutiny than at any point in its recent history. Gosford itself is at the centre of the region's growth ambitions — the State Government's Gosford City Centre revitalisation framework identified the Mann Street and Donnison Street corridors as priority redevelopment zones, and planning decisions in that area require clean, verifiable documentation chains. Any gap in those records carries real consequences for developers, residents and the Council's own compliance obligations.

What the Audit Found This Week

Council staff identified the problem during a scheduled quality-control review of files uploaded to its Objective ECM platform, the document management system the organisation uses to store planning, infrastructure and community service records. The review, completed in the last week of June 2026, found that automated batch-scanning processes — used to digitise legacy paper files from the former Gosford City Council and Wyong Shire Council archives — had generated duplicate image attachments in hundreds of case files. Some individual development application records contained the same scanned site photograph saved under multiple file names, bloating file sizes and making it difficult for planning officers to confirm which version of a document was the authoritative copy.

The Council confirmed the issue is being addressed but has not publicly quantified how many files are affected. For context, the merger of the former Gosford and Wyong councils in 2016 brought together separate records systems covering decades of development decisions across a region that now holds roughly 350,000 residents. The scale of the legacy digitisation task has always been significant. Central Coast Council's IT and records management teams are understood to be working with the vendor to run a deduplication process across the affected folders, with priority given to active planning files in the Gosford, Erina and Tuggerah growth corridors.

Practical Impact on Developments and DA Timelines

For applicants with live development applications, the immediate question is whether the clean-up will affect processing times. The Gosford CBD renewal program currently has several significant applications in train, including proposals around the Kibble Park precinct on Georgiana Terrace and mixed-use developments near the Gosford train station on Showground Road. Planning officers have reportedly been advised to flag any file where duplicate attachments could affect the completeness of an assessment before they proceed to determination.

Central Coast Council's planning portal allows applicants to track DA progress online, and the Council's statutory timeframe for determining most local development applications is 40 days from the date of lodgement under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. Officers dealing with affected files will need to resolve any document integrity questions within that window or risk the applications lapsing into deemed refusal territory — an outcome that creates legal exposure and further delays for proponents.

For residents and businesses monitoring the Gosford renewal, the practical advice is straightforward: check the Council's planning portal at planningportal.nsw.gov.au to confirm whether your application or a nearby proposal has had any recent status updates this week, and contact Council's Development Assessment team directly on 1300 463 954 if you cannot confirm which documents are on file. The deduplication work is expected to be completed in stages across July, with active Gosford precinct files taking priority in the first round.