Community land owned or managed by Council includes a wide variety of properties, ranging from small recreation reserves to iconic parks, beaches, natural areas and community facilities.

Community land supports important aspects of community life and provides opportunities for recreation, leisure, community services and contact with the natural environment.

The Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) requires a Plan of Management (POM) to be prepared for all public land that is classified as ‘community’ land under that Act. A Plan of Management is an important tool for managing community land, which is written by Council in consultation with the community.

A POM categorises community land based on its characteristics and outlines how Council will use and manage the land. A POM provides a transparent and coordinated approach to public land management. A POM can be prepared for more than one area of land or a specific area or site. This POM is an area-wide POM which covers multiple parcels and sites of community land in the Central Coast LGA.

The Local Government Act requires a POM to:

• categorise all land covered in this POM into categories specified in the Local Government Act
• determine how Council will use and manage land covered in this POM, in a way that is consistent with the core objectives for each category under the Local Government Act and other laws that relate to the use of the land
• identify the objectives and performance targets for each category of land
• identify the means by which Council proposes to achieve the objectives and performance targets for each category of land
• expressly authorise leases, licenses and other estates that may be granted for each category of land, and specify any purposes for which a lease, licence or other estate may be granted only by tender under the Local Government Act.

The Local Government Act requires all land classified as community land to be managed and used in accordance with the POM applying to the land and any other laws regulating the use of the land. Most land owned by Council is classified as community land. Council also manages many Crown reserves as Crown Land Manager. A separate Plan of Management will cover these Crown Reserves.

Crown land is land that is owned and managed by the NSW (State) Government. Councils may also manage Crown land under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) for public land.

However, this Plan of Management pertains to the classification of Community Land which is both owned and managed by Council.

Classification dictates whether land is for operational use or community use. However, categorisation is purely to identify how the land identified for community use will be used i.e. bushland, parks, reserves, playing fields and open spaces.

The categorisation of community land has no bearing on whether the land can be sold. Only operational land can be sold.