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Our draft Regulatory Priorities Statement is designed to inform the community on what Council's regulatory priorities will be for the 25/26 financial year. The five priority areas will receive increased oversight, and an increased regulatory response may be applied.

This Statement applies to all regulatory, compliance and enforcement functions by Council staff in response to alleged offences under Council-administered legislation. It does not apply to functions by Federal or State agencies where Council is not the regulatory authority.

Our enduring and yearly priorities are developed based on:

  • Community customer service request history
  • Internal staff consultation
  • Councillor/MP requests
  • Media requests

Our priorities for 2025/2026

Our increased regulatory efforts signify a comprehensive approach to ensuring compliance and maintaining high standards.

This means there will be more frequent inspections and audits along with an increase in site visits and surveillance activities. As a result, Council will be issuing more Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs), pursuing more prosecutions and seeking more injunctions to enforce regulations effectively.

  • Illegal camping in parks, reserves, and carparks

    • Preventing unauthorised camping
    • Protecting public spaces
    • Promoting responsible camping practices

  • Illegal land clearing

    • Protect native vegetation
    • Promote biodiversity

  • Encroachments onto public land

    • Preventing unauthorised encroachments
    • Promoting compliance
    • Enhancing community awareness

  • Waste dumping and unlawful waste activities

    • Preventing illegal dumping
    • Promoting proper waste disposal
    • Taking regulatory action for illegal activity

  • Food safety repeat offenders

    • Increase enforcement action (e.g. improvement notices, prohibition orders, penalty infringement notices for high risk or repeat offenders)

What are our enduring priorities?

The five priorities outlined for this year exist in addition to our enduring priorities.

Enduring priorities are the regulatory functions we are committed to upholding on an ongoing basis. These routine, stable priorities include:

  • Parking accessibility

    • Focus on Central Business Districts
    • Disability parking
    • Equal and fair access to parking sports
    • Safety, traffic or pedestrian obstruction

  • Community safety

    • Dog attacks
    • Dog leashing
    • Dog registration
    • Off Leash areas

  • Non-compliance with lawful directions

    Penalising people that do not comply with:

    • A lawful Direction
    • Notice and/or Order issued under relevant legislation without a lawful excuse

  • Protecting public assets and the environment

    • Addressing actions that put public assets and/or the environment at risk

Addressing homelessness with compassion

We acknowledge that some individuals that are camping may be experiencing homelessness, which is approached in a very different way. In such cases, rangers work with the Specialist Homelessness Services and the Central Coast Assertive Outreach Team to connect people with housing, health and crisis relief. On some occasions, Council works with providers to temporarily relocate these persons to Council caravan parks while they work with them on transition plans.

Homelessness is a complex issue. To read more about how Council supports work in this space, view our Hardship and Homelessness Services page.

To have your say on the Regulatory Priorities Statement 2025-2026 you can:

Submissions close Thursday 26 June 2025.

When providing feedback to Council your attention is drawn to the provisions of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 which allows for possible access to certain public and personal documentation. View our privacy statement.