Central Coast Council Moves to Fix Duplicate Image Problem Plaguing Gosford Renewal Website

Central Coast Council confirmed this week it is conducting a systematic audit of its online planning and community engagement portal after an internal review identified a significant duplicate image problem affecting document libraries tied to the Gosford CBD renewal program. The issue, which staff identified during a broader digital infrastructure review, has resulted in multiple copies of the same photographs and renderings being stored and displayed across project pages, making it harder for residents to locate current, accurate materials.

The timing matters. Council has spent the past two years rebuilding public trust after its period of financial administration ended, and the Gosford CBD renewal — centred on the Mann Street and Donnison Street precincts — is one of its most visible recovery projects. When residents and prospective investors try to track progress on the renewal, a cluttered, confusing portal does real damage to transparency efforts that the elected council has publicly committed to since resuming control in 2022.

What the Audit Found This Week

The review, conducted by council's in-house digital services team between Monday 29 June and Friday 3 July, found that duplicate images had accumulated across at least three separate project pages, including the Gosford Waterfront activation page and the Central Coast Regional Plan 2041 supporting materials section. Some images appeared as many as four times within a single document folder, according to council's internal review summary published to its agenda portal on Thursday. The duplication is understood to have originated from multiple staff uploading assets independently without a shared naming or tagging protocol in place.

The practical consequence for residents is measurable. Page load times on the planning portal's Gosford-related sections have been running noticeably slower than council's stated target, and the search function returns redundant results when residents type queries related to the CBD renewal or the Leagues Club Field redevelopment site on Dane Drive. The Dane Drive site, earmarked as a centrepiece of the broader waterfront strategy, has attracted particular public interest, meaning the duplicate clutter lands on one of the portal's most-visited project pages.

The Fix and What Comes Next

Council's digital team has already begun the replacement process, with a staged rollout of cleaned image libraries expected to be completed by 31 July 2026. The plan involves assigning a single asset management officer to approve all new image uploads to planning project pages, a control that did not previously exist. The council is also understood to be trialling a digital asset management system to replace the current ad-hoc folder structure, though no contract for that software has been publicly confirmed.

For residents following the Gosford renewal, the most immediate improvement will be on the Gosford City Centre master plan page, which is expected to be the first section updated under the new protocol. The Central Coast Regional Planning Panel, which reviews major development applications in the area, also uses linked documents from the same portal, meaning cleaner image libraries will assist those formal assessment processes as well.

Locals who engage with council through the Your Voice Our Coast platform — council's primary community consultation tool — should notice faster load times and less repetition in gallery views once the July 31 deadline is met. Anyone who has downloaded planning documents recently and found duplicate images embedded in PDF attachments is advised to re-download materials after that date to ensure they have the most current versions.

Council has not indicated that any planning decisions were affected by the duplicate image issue, but the audit does underscore a broader lesson for a local government still rebuilding its administrative systems after administration. Getting the digital housekeeping right on high-profile projects like the Gosford waterfront renewal is not a minor technical footnote — it is part of demonstrating the organisation can manage complex, long-running programs with the consistency its ratepayers are owed.