Central Coast Council's Digital Asset Overhaul Hits a Snag — Here's Where Things Stand This Week

Central Coast Council's effort to clean up thousands of duplicated and low-quality images embedded across its digital planning tools and community-facing websites has run into delays this week, with the replacement program still incomplete more than two months after its scheduled June completion date. The project, which covers assets used in everything from the Gosford CBD renewal portal to flood resilience mapping tools, was flagged internally as a priority digital infrastructure task earlier this year.

The timing matters. Council is still rebuilding public trust after emerging from NSW Government administration in 2021, and its digital presence has become a frontline tool for residents navigating development applications, housing affordability information, and climate planning resources. When placeholder or duplicated images appear on official portals — particularly those tied to high-stakes projects like the Gosford City Centre revitalisation — it erodes confidence in the institution's operational capacity.

What the Rollout Covers — and Where It Has Stalled

The duplicate image replacement work spans several Council-managed platforms, including the Your Voice Our Coast community engagement portal and the integrated planning maps accessible via Council's main website at Mann Street, Gosford. Staff have been working through a content audit that identified redundant visual assets across more than a dozen active project pages, several of which relate to the Gosford Waterfront precinct and the proposed Leagues Club Field redevelopment at Gosford Oval.

Sources familiar with the project's scope — Council confirmed the program exists in a budget line item published in its 2025-26 operational plan — say the hold-up relates to a third-party digital asset management contract that was due for renewal in April 2026. Without that contract finalised, teams have been unable to bulk-upload replacement imagery to the content management system. Council's 2025-26 operational budget, adopted publicly in June 2025, allocated funds toward digital platform maintenance under its Corporate Performance directorate, though the specific line item for the image audit was not separately disclosed.

For residents in suburbs like Woy Woy, Wyong, and Tuggerah who rely on Council's online tools to track local development proposals or access emergency flood mapping ahead of winter storms, the incomplete rollout has practical consequences. Several community project pages currently display generic stock images that bear no relationship to the Central Coast locations they're meant to represent — a small but symbolically pointed failure for an administration still demonstrating its post-intervention competence.

Why This Week Brought Fresh Scrutiny

The issue resurfaced publicly this week after users on a Central Coast community Facebook group flagged that the Your Voice Our Coast page for the Gosford Arts Precinct was showing an aerial photograph of what appeared to be a Melbourne streetscape. The post attracted more than 200 comments by Friday morning. Council has not yet issued a formal statement addressing the mix-up, though a correction to that specific page was made sometime between Thursday evening and Friday morning.

The broader image replacement audit was originally scoped to cover roughly 3,400 individual digital assets across Council's public-facing platforms, according to the operational plan documentation. Even a partial completion of that work before the end of the 2025-26 financial year on June 30 would have represented progress; Council staff have indicated the work is now expected to roll into the new financial year.

For residents and ratepayers wanting to stay across the project's progress, Council holds its next ordinary meeting on Tuesday, July 14, at the Wyong offices on Hely Street — an opportunity for councillors to ask questions about the digital maintenance schedule. The agenda and officer reports are typically published five business days before the meeting via Council's website. Anyone with a specific concern about incorrect imagery on a project page affecting a development application can lodge a formal inquiry through the Customer Service team at the Gosford administration centre on Mann Street.