Central Coast Council Tackles Duplicate Image Problem Hitting Digital Property Records

Central Coast Council confirmed this week it is working through a backlog of duplicate and mismatched images embedded in its digital planning and property record system, a problem that has caused delays for development applicants and residents trying to access accurate documents through the council's online portal.

The issue matters now because the council is still rebuilding systems and public trust following its 2020 financial administration period, when document management was one of several areas that fell behind. With the Gosford CBD renewal generating a surge in development applications — including multiple mixed-use proposals near Mann Street and the Kibble Park precinct — accurate, clean records are not a bureaucratic nicety. They directly affect how fast applications are assessed and whether landowners can access correct site history documents.

What Went Wrong and Where It Shows Up

The problem, as council staff have described it in public meeting notes from the June 24 ordinary meeting, stems from legacy data migrations carried out across 2021 and 2022, when older scanned planning files were transferred into the current system. Images — including site photos, survey diagrams and heritage overlays — were in some cases uploaded multiple times or tagged to incorrect parcel identifiers. The result is that a file for a property on, say, Donnison Street in Gosford might surface images belonging to a separate lot in Wyong or Tuggerah.

Central Coast's property database covers more than 160,000 land parcels across the local government area. Even a duplication rate of less than one percent would mean upward of 1,600 files carrying incorrect or redundant image attachments — enough to create real friction in the DA assessment pipeline at a time when the council's planning team is already under pressure.

The Gosford DA Hub, a walk-in and online service the council operates from the Gosford administration building on Mann Street, has been fielding complaints from applicants who printed documents showing outdated or wrong site photographs. Staff there have been advising applicants to cross-check any images downloaded before July 1, 2026 and to request a verified copy directly from the counter if anything looks inconsistent.

The Fix and the Timeline

Council's information services team began a systematic duplicate-detection sweep on June 30, using automated flagging tools to identify records where the same image hash appears against more than one parcel identifier. The sweep is expected to run through at least July 18, after which flagged records go to manual review before correction.

Residents and applicants with active development applications lodged through the NSW Planning Portal are the most directly affected group. The portal pulls document images directly from the council's internal database, so a duplicate or mismatched image in the council system can appear in a portal-facing file without the applicant being aware of it. Anyone with an application currently under assessment — particularly in the Gosford City Centre precinct or the Warnervale growth area — is being encouraged to log in and verify that site photos and survey plans on their application match their actual property.

The Central Coast Community Environment Network, which regularly engages with planning decisions around the Ourimbah Creek corridor and the Tuggerah Lakes foreshore, has flagged the issue as relevant to heritage and environmental overlay accuracy. Incorrect images in heritage files could, in theory, affect how a site is assessed against the Central Coast Local Environmental Plan 2022, though council staff have indicated no DA decisions have been formally appealed on these grounds yet.

The practical advice from the council's planning counter is straightforward: if you have a current DA, check your portal documents now. If you are preparing a new application for a property in a high-activity zone — particularly between Gosford and Wyong along the rail corridor — request a fresh property information certificate rather than relying on previously downloaded materials. Council is waiving the standard $53 re-issue fee for property information certificates where the duplicate image issue has been formally logged against that parcel. The sweep's findings are due to be reported back to councillors at the July 22 ordinary meeting.