Central Coast Council Tackles Duplicate Image Problem Plaguing Digital Asset Library This Week

Central Coast Council confirmed this week it is working through a backlog of duplicate and incorrectly placed images across its digital asset management system, a technical problem that has caused wrong photographs to appear alongside planning documents, venue listings, and community project pages on its website. The cleanup, which began in late June, follows a content audit flagging hundreds of mismatched image files stored across multiple internal directories.

The timing matters. Council is mid-stream on several high-profile initiatives — the Gosford CBD revitalisation corridor along Mann Street, the ongoing activation of the Central Coast Stadium precinct in Gosford, and a suite of flood resilience documents tied to the Tuggerah Lakes catchment — all of which rely on accurate visual representation to communicate progress to residents and attract investor confidence. Mislabelled or duplicated images in those project pages undermine that effort and, in at least one documented case, caused a planning document to display a photograph of the wrong development site entirely.

What the Audit Found

The council's digital team identified the problem after residents and local business operators flagged inconsistencies in how projects were being displayed through the Your Voice Our Coast engagement portal. In some instances, images tagged to the Gosford waterfront renewal appeared alongside unrelated infrastructure content. In others, stock photographs were duplicated under different file names, bloating the library and making it harder for staff to locate verified site photography.

The council has not publicly released the full scope of the audit, but internal communications sighted by The Daily Central Coast indicate the affected material spans documents uploaded between January 2024 and May 2026. Council administration — which only exited formal financial administration in 2023 after a period of oversight by state-appointed administrators — has been building its digital communications capacity from a low base, and the image duplication problem reflects that recovery still has ground to cover.

The issue is not unique to local government. NSW Government digital guidance published by the Department of Customer Service recommends that agencies maintain a single-source-of-truth digital asset register, with metadata tagging to prevent duplication. For a council the size of Central Coast, covering more than 1,750 square kilometres from Gosford to Wyong and serving a population of roughly 340,000 people, maintaining that standard across a sprawling web presence is resource-intensive work.

Local Projects at the Centre of the Fix

Among the pages prioritised for correction are those associated with the Gosford Regional Gallery on Georgiana Terrace, the Laycock Street Community Theatre, and the council's housing strategy documentation linked to the Central Coast Local Housing Strategy adopted in 2022. Accurate imagery for those locations carries practical weight: the gallery is approaching a scheduled programming announcement, and the housing strategy pages are regularly accessed by developers and community groups assessing land use options across suburbs including Woy Woy, Wyong, and Tuggerawong.

The council's digital team has set a target of completing primary corrections by July 18, 2026. After that date, a secondary review is planned for less-trafficked pages in the asset library, a process expected to take a further four to six weeks.

For residents who have noticed incorrect images on council project pages — particularly those tied to the Mann Street corridor redevelopment or the Tuggerah Lakes flood planning documents — the council's customer service line at Hely Street, Gosford remains the direct contact point for flagging specific errors. Screenshots and URL references help the digital team locate and prioritise affected pages faster than a general description alone.

The broader lesson for council communicators is a familiar one: digital housekeeping deferred long enough becomes a genuine public trust problem. With housing affordability pressures drawing increasing numbers of Sydney commuters to the Central Coast, and fast rail ambitions keeping the region in the news, the quality of what residents and prospective buyers find when they search council project pages is not a trivial concern.