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2005 (c) Peninsula Community Access Newspaper Inc

 

ACF branch commends court decision

 

The Central Coast branch of the Australian Conservation Foundation has commended the decision handed down in the Land and Environment court rejecting a development application on land in Verion Rd, Woy Woy.

It found the site was occupied by the endangered ecological plant community known as Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland (UCSW).

The branch, along with wide variety of community groups and residents, have been fighting for the protection of this extraordinary piece of bushland since mid-2004, said branch president Mr John Wiggin.

"The UCSW on the Veron road site is one of the few remaining bush blocks on the Peninsula and is in much better condition than some of the other known UCSW sites," he said.

It also had an intact specimen of the regionally significant corkwood tree Endiandra sieberi.

On reading the judgement, he said: "This decision further strengthens the role of the precautionary principle and the other stated principles of ecologically-sustainable development (ESD) that are embedded in the EP&A Act to preserve the environment."

The branch called on Gosford Council to rezone the land to protect to it for future generations, he said.

Press release, February 22 Mark Ellis, ACF Central Coast