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

Central Coast Council launched a structured audit this week of its internal digital image library, targeting thousands of duplicate and mismatched photographs that have clogged planning, infrastructure, and communications workflows for years. The work, handled through Council's Information Management directorate at the Gosford administration offices on Mann Street, marks the first systematic attempt to standardise visual records since the organisation emerged from state-appointed administration in 2022.

The timing matters. Council is under mounting pressure to demonstrate operational competence as it pursues a pipeline of high-priority projects — among them the Gosford CBD renewal master plan, flood resilience upgrades along Wyong Road and the Tuggerah Lakes foreshore, and a raft of new development applications linked to Sydney commuters relocating to the region. Disorganised image records have previously caused delays in development assessment, with planning officers sometimes unable to confirm which site photographs correspond to which DA lodgement or infrastructure inspection report.

What the Problem Actually Looks Like on the Ground

The issue is less glamorous than it sounds, but its practical consequences are real. Council staff managing DA files for locations such as the Gosford waterfront precinct and the Long Jetty commercial strip have reported pulling up multiple versions of the same site photograph — sometimes a dozen near-identical images taken within minutes of each other — tagged with conflicting metadata. In some cases, images from Terrigal Esplanade inspections ended up filed under Wyong industrial zone records, creating discrepancies that required manual correction before files could progress.

The duplicate image problem also affects Council's public-facing communications. The Central Coast Council website and its Your Voice Our Coast community engagement platform both draw from the same asset library. Broken or repeated images on project update pages for schemes like the Gosford Activation Plan have drawn complaints from community members trying to track the progress of works on Georgiana Terrace and Baker Street.

Digital asset management is not a new discipline, but local governments in New South Wales have historically lagged behind state agencies in applying it consistently. A 2024 review of NSW council ICT readiness by the Office of Local Government — a public document referenced in the sector — found that a significant proportion of mid-sized councils were operating without a formal digital asset register. Central Coast, given the disruption of its administration period, sat in a particularly difficult position entering 2025 with fragmented systems inherited from the former Gosford City Council and Wyong Shire Council, which merged in 2016.

What Council Is Doing, and What Comes Next

This week's work involves a combination of automated deduplication software and manual review by staff in the records and GIS teams. The project is being run in phases, with the planning and development assessment image archive — estimated to contain records stretching back to the 2016 merger — prioritised first. Community infrastructure and events photography will follow in a second phase expected to run through August.

For residents and developers lodging applications, the practical upside is faster turnaround. Planning officers spending less time chasing correct image files means DA pre-assessment checks at the Gosford and Wyong service centres should move more efficiently. Builders and architects working on projects along the Terrigal-Avoca corridor, where development activity has increased sharply over the past 18 months, have flagged documentation delays as a recurring frustration.

Council has not yet confirmed a completion date for the full library clean-up, nor has it published a cost figure for the software and staff time involved. The next progress report is expected to go to a Council committee meeting later in July. Residents wanting to track the project can monitor the Your Voice Our Coast platform at yoursaycoastcentral.com.au, where Council has committed to posting updates on its digital systems improvement program alongside the Gosford CBD and Wyong Town Centre renewal projects.