How Central Coast Council's Property Records Ended Up With Duplicate Images — and Why Fixing It Matters Now

Central Coast Council is working through a systematic audit of its digital property image library after years of file duplication left planning officers and infrastructure teams cross-referencing inaccurate or outdated photographs against active development applications. The problem, traced in part to two separate data migrations during the council's period of financial administration between 2020 and 2022, has affected records tied to properties across the Gosford local government area.

The timing matters. The council is simultaneously pushing forward with the Gosford City Centre Revitalisation program, updating its Coastal Management Program in response to heightened flood risk assessments, and processing a surge in DA lodgements from Sydney commuters priced out of the capital — all of which depend on accurate, correctly attributed site photography as part of the documentary record.

Where the Duplication Problem Began

When the NSW Government appointed administrators to Central Coast Council in October 2020 following a financial crisis that left the organisation more than $560 million in debt, day-to-day IT governance was among the functions that received less oversight than normal. Staff departures and a freeze on discretionary spending meant that two planned upgrades to the council's electronic document and records management system — the platform used to store site inspection photos, DA imagery and infrastructure condition records — were partially completed but not reconciled.

The result was that images uploaded during that period were in some cases catalogued against incorrect property lot numbers or duplicated across multiple records. Properties along significant renewal corridors, including sections of Mann Street and Donnison Street in Gosford, as well as residential lots in Woy Woy and Wyong, appear in council internal reviews to have been among those with the highest rate of duplicate or misattributed files. The council has not publicly released a full audit figure, and The Daily Central Coast has not independently verified the total number of affected records.

The issue is not unique to the Central Coast. NSW councils that underwent significant structural or financial disruption in the early 2020s — a period that also coincided with pandemic-era remote work arrangements and delayed digitisation projects — have broadly reported data quality challenges in their asset management systems. The Office of Local Government flagged data integrity as a sector-wide concern in guidance issued to recovering councils in 2023.

Why the Audit Is Happening Now

The trigger for the current remediation effort is partly practical and partly legal. Under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, site photographs form part of the official development application record and can be referenced in planning appeals before the NSW Land and Environment Court. A duplicated or incorrectly attributed image attached to a DA — particularly one involving flood-prone land near Narara Creek or properties within the Gosford waterfront precinct — creates potential grounds for challenge.

Flood risk has sharpened the urgency. Sydney recorded its hottest June since 1859 this year, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, and climate scientists have linked the result to underlying warming trends. On the Central Coast, that national conversation feeds directly into local planning: the council's Coastal Management Program, currently in a consultation phase, relies partly on before-and-after site photography to document erosion, drainage changes and stormwater impacts across low-lying areas including The Entrance and Tuggerah Lakes foreshores.

Officers working on the program identified cases where images stored in the system showed conditions from a different year, or from an entirely different property, making it difficult to establish a reliable photographic baseline for modelling future flood scenarios.

The council's digital records team is understood to be working property-by-property through high-priority corridors first, focusing on active DAs and flood-affected zones before moving to historical records. Residents with applications currently before the council who have concerns about which imagery is attached to their file can contact the council's Development and Environment directorate at the Gosford administration building on Adelong Road, or lodge an inquiry through the NSW Government's planning portal. The audit is expected to run through the remainder of 2026.