Council held $230 million of developer contributions at 30 June. Last year it earned more in interest on them than it spent

What this money is

Contributions are collected under two sections of the NSW planning Act. A section 7.11 plan applies to a defined area where growth needs new local roads, drainage, paths, parks and community facilities; the report names the Warnervale District as the typical case. The single section 7.12 plan covers the rest of the local government area and charges a flat levy: nothing on development costing up to $100,000, 0.5 per cent between $100,000 and $200,000, and 1 per cent above that. Council currently has 11 section 7.11 plans and one section 7.12 plan. For 7.12 money, the report says, there is no requirement for a nexus between where contributions are collected and where they are spent.

Section 7.11 money is tied more tightly. In the report’s words, development contributions are also legally restricted and can only be spent on the infrastructure purposes and catchments identified in the relevant contributions plans.

The year in four lines

Source: Central Coast Council, Table 1 of the Local Infrastructure Contributions information report, Environment and Planning Committee agenda, 6 October 2026, page 371. The rows as printed do not add to the closing balances; see the methodology note.

Read across the total column, interest beat spending by $3.18 million. The section 7.11 side shows it most plainly: $3.49 million spent against $7.12 million of interest, on a pool of about $164 to $171 million. Spending across both kinds of plan came to about 3 per cent of what Council held on 1 July 2025.

For scale, Council’s draft unaudited results, reported to the 25 August Ordinary meeting, say it delivered $265.5 million of capital works in 2025-26. The $6.21 million drawn from contributions is about 2 per cent of that figure.

Where the $230 million sits

Most of it, $171.38 million, is in section 7.11 plans. The report names the largest balances there: open space and recreation $43.93 million, community facilities $43.26 million, drainage $41.17 million, and roads and transport $37.35 million.

The section 7.12 side is mostly money from plans that no longer exist. Of its $59.11 million, $53.42 million is in what the report calls the section 7.12 repealed-contributions account, about 90 per cent. Council repealed the Ourimbah, Budgewoi and Terrigal section 7.11 plans from 15 December 2025, and their balances moved into that account: Terrigal $5,595,947.80, Ourimbah $3,008,151.21 and Budgewoi $2,851,791.09, $11.46 million in all. The report says the overall rise in 7.12 balances is largely attributable to interest earnings and the ongoing consolidation of balances from repealed contribution plans.

What the money did buy

The report’s attachment lists 34 projects that drew on contributions in 2025-26. The largest was the Lake Munmorah Recreation Precinct, $1.16 million of section 7.11 money, 92 per cent of the project’s cost. Then the Gosford City Centre Transport and Access Management Program ($473,500), the Avoca Drive shared path ($470,003), the James Browne Oval car park at Woy Woy ($450,000) and Hard Court and car park renewal at Harry Moore Oval, Toukley ($323,237). Eleven entries are $105,000 each, ten of them local playspace renewals, from Albatross Close Reserve to McColl Park.

Several entries carry delays in Council’s own words. The Tumbi Road shared path ($2,287 used) has been delayed due to consultant availability; the Mann Street and Vaughan Street drainage upgrade in Gosford has been delayed due to a change of the scope of works during the design phase.

Why it builds up, by Council’s account

The report does not hide the problem. Delivery, it says, depends on project readiness, capital works programming, land acquisition, approvals and outside funding, and As a result, contribution balances may accumulate ahead of project delivery, particularly for large or multi-year infrastructure projects. It then says Council recognises that holding significant unspent contribution balances presents financial and governance risks, as well as community expectations around timely infrastructure delivery.

Its answer is consolidation: fewer, simpler plans, with projects found through the four-year capital works program and contributions paired with grants. That is a fair account of why money can sit. What the report does not do is set a target for the balance, or say when the $171.38 million in section 7.11 plans is expected to be spent. On the evidence of one year, the pool grows faster from interest alone than it is drawn down.

The fix on the table

A separate item on the same agenda proposes a revised section 7.12 plan. Its schedule of works would stop showing the cost of a specific project in a specific year and show the total cost of a program over four years instead, a change officers say will allow flexibility in the way projects funded from development contributions are managed and delivered with an aim to increase annual spending of developer contributions.

The draft schedule allocates $66,664,335 of section 7.12 money from 2026-27 to 2029-30. By year it rises: $13.2 million in 2026-27, $14.0 million, $17.7 million, then $21.7 million in 2029-30. The biggest line is the regional road, shared path and footpath program, $31.36 million of section 7.12 money towards a $44.01 million total; community facility upgrades take $10 million, $9.65 million of it in the last two years; Gosford City Centre transport and access works take $10.49 million.

Set against last year, $13.2 million in 2026-27 would be close to five times the $2.72 million of section 7.12 spending in 2025-26. It is a schedule in a draft plan, not a budget result. Officers say Council receives on average $2 million a year in section 7.12 contributions, holds $59 million, and that There are sufficient reserves to fund the projects proposed for the 2026-27 financial year.

What happens next

Officers recommend that the committee recommend Council endorse the draft section 7.12 plan for public exhibition for no less than 28 days. As at 7 October 2026 the council’s business papers portal listed no minutes for the 6 October committee, so what it resolved is not yet on the record. Council’s engagement site, Your Voice Our Coast, lists a Draft Local Infrastructure Contributions Plan under Projects coming soon, not yet open for feedback. When the exhibition opens we will report how to have a say and what the schedule would build near you.