Central Coast Council's Digital Asset Overhaul Moves to Next Phase This Week

Central Coast Council confirmed this week it has completed the first major round of its digital asset audit, removing hundreds of duplicate and low-resolution images from its public website and replacing them with location-specific photography drawn from across the region. The work, part of a broader digital governance program running through the second half of 2026, targets the council's online planning, community services and infrastructure pages — areas residents use most when searching for development applications, flood risk maps and bin collection schedules.

The timing matters. Council only emerged from state-appointed administration in 2022 after a financial crisis that exposed serious gaps in its internal systems, including how it managed digital records and public communications infrastructure. Four years on, the organisation is still rebuilding trust with ratepayers, and the condition of its digital presence is part of that story. Patchy, repeated or visually inconsistent imagery on service pages has drawn complaints from community groups who argue the site still doesn't reflect how the region actually looks and functions.

What Changed and Where

The most visible updates this week landed on pages covering Gosford CBD renewal projects and the Wyong Town Centre masterplan. Both had carried the same generic stock photographs of unidentified waterfronts for more than 18 months, according to multiple residents who raised the issue through the council's feedback portal earlier this year. Those images have now been replaced with current photographs taken at Mann Street, Gosford, and the Central Coast Highway corridor near Tuggerah — locations that anchor the actual development work underway.

The Gosford Waterfront precinct page, which covers the long-running plans for the former Gosford Public Hospital site on Holden Street, now carries imagery dated to mid-2026 showing the cleared land and surrounding streetscape. The previous image on that page dated to before the hospital's demolition. Council's communications team also updated the flood mapping section, replacing a recycled image from the Hawkesbury region with photographs relevant to the Tuggerah Lakes catchment area, which covers Budgewoi, The Entrance and surrounds — communities that faced significant inundation events in 2022.

The image replacement project sits within a digital content management contract the council awarded in late 2025. That process required all replaced assets to be catalogued, tagged with location metadata, and stored in a central repository to prevent future duplication — a direct response to audit findings that identified more than 400 duplicate image files spread across 12 separate content folders on the council's Content Management System.

Why Residents Should Check Their Bookmarks

For anyone regularly using the council's DA tracker or the Central Coast Local Environmental Plan mapping tool, some page URLs have shifted as part of the restructure. Council published a redirect notice on its homepage on July 2, advising that links bookmarked before June 30 may route to updated page addresses. The Gosford Library on Donnison Street and the Wyong Library on Margaret Street have printed guides available at their information desks for residents who need help navigating the new structure.

The practical stakes extend beyond aesthetics. Planning consultants working on projects in suburbs like Woy Woy, Terrigal and Lake Munmorah rely on the council's online resources to cross-reference zoning maps and environmental constraint overlays. When those pages carry outdated or misidentified images, it creates ambiguity about which documents are current — an issue that can delay application assessments.

Council has flagged a second audit phase covering its community events and parks directories, scheduled for completion before October 2026. That phase will address duplicated imagery on pages for locations including Wyrrabalong National Park at Bateau Bay and The Entrance Ocean Baths. Residents who spot remaining duplicate or mismatched images can lodge a report through the council's website feedback form, which the communications team has confirmed routes directly to the digital content team rather than the general enquiries queue.