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YOUR WEEKLY INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER
EDITION #545 THURSDAY, 23 JULY 2026
Photo: Ronny Ling
Unexpected visitor on Terrigal Beach
SEE PAGE 16
News
P6 High speed rail project on track
Out&About
P6 The little fellow seemed happy to soak up the sun
Old Sydney Town owners want homes in the mix A proposal for a residential subdivision of 256 home lots on the Old Sydney Town site at Somersby will be presented to a Central Coast Council committee early in August, with the Bring Back Old Sydney Town Facebook group opposed to the move. The plan has been set out in detail for advice from Council’s independent Local Planning Panel (LPP), which will discuss its merits in a closed-door meeting on Thursday, July 23. The LPP advice – along with recommendations from Council planning staff to refuse the application – will then go to the councillors’ Environment and Planning Committee in the first week of August. Landowner, World Cultural Tourism Village Pty Ltd, is seeking permission
The old entry to the Old Sydney Town theme park
to change the zoning for some of the 118ha. The vision is for 30% of the site to be given over to 256 residential blocks
ranging from 450sqm to 1,800sqm, 35% to tourism, business and employment lands and about 29% to conservation.
Public open space 6% and 1% to a local centre would make up the rest. The proposal would be a “catalyst for major transformative change of the former Old Sydney Town site to promote tourism and employment opportunities, with supporting residential development,” the proposal says. “It will enable the delivery of significant tourist, community, commercial/retail and residential opportunities in a strategic location bound by natural bushland and scenic views.” The site is largely disused, with areas of grassland, disused buildings from the former Old Sydney Town theme park, two man-made dams, vegetated areas and waterways.
P13 The game’s afoot again at Woy Woy
Sport
P31 Rhinos keep playoff hopes alive PUZZLES PAGE 18
Continued page 8
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