Chamber Dinner - Annual General Meeting
CHAMBER PUSHES FOR WOY WOY WORKING COMITTEEThe Peninsula Chamber of Commerce has today confirmed its push to form a working committee for the Woy Woy town centre consisting of retailers, commercial property owners and Council staff following a successful meeting with Mayor Laurie Maher. "The Peninsula Chamber has for some time been highly concerned at the drop in retail business in the old section of the Woy Woy town centre", said Peninsula Chamber President Matthew Wales.
"This led to an eight person delegation of Woy Woy retailers and commercial land owners meeting with the Mayor and senior Council staff just before Christmas with the view to exploring ways to stimulate long term sustainable business activity in Woy Woy".
"It was a highly pro-active discussion and the Council has agreed to support the creation of a working group that will liaise with Council over the next 12 months", said Matthew Wales.
"The aim is to identify strategies and civic improvement works that will help to stimulate the old retail sector of Woy Woy and empower retailers and commercial land owners to push for those initiatives".
"The Chamber understands that funds are very tight. However, if you don't identify the things that need to be done, then we will never be in a position to lobby for funding in the future", said Matthew Wales.
"Councillor Laurie Maher was particularly supportive of the involvement of the business community and this will lead to the formation of the working committee early in 2012".
"It is important that both retailers and land owners are involved in the process so that you have broad business support", said Matthew Wales.
"We are also very grateful for the strong support of Deepwater Plaza General Manager Julie Marr who instigated this process".
The Chamber has acknowledged that it is vitally important to link the old retail section of Woy Woy with Deepwater Plaza in order to strengthen the local economic base.
"It is our view that you need to link all segments of the Woy Woy town centre not only physically but through co-operative marketing", said Matthew Wales.
CHAMBER HAPPY WITH RETAIL SALESThe Peninsula Chamber of Commerce has welcomed strong retail sales across the Peninsula town centres following what has been described as a "solid" Christmas for business. "We are generally very pleased with feedback from retailers following what has been a pretty solid Christmas retail period", said Peninsula Chamber President Matthew Wales.
"There is no doubt that it has been a difficult year for many but it appears that Christmas sales have been strong particularly in the Umina Beach main street and at Deepwater Plaza Woy Woy".
"Umina has been pretty well packed to the rafters over the Christmas break which has translated into brisk business for many retailers", said Matthew Wales.
"Chamber members have commented that the entry of anchor retailers like Woolworths, Coles and Aldi have meant an increase in foot traffic and have attracted people from out of town who don't normally shop in Umina's main street".
"Good news also from Deepwater Plaza who seem to have recovered from the impacts of the commuter carpark and Charlton Street roundabout construction to record strong sales equaling their strong 2009 figures", said Matthew Wales.
"These a good signs for 2012 and the Chamber intends to ramp up its relationship with Gosford City Council in order to improve business conditions especially in the old retail section of Woy Woy".
The Peninsula Chamber has said that it still sees 2012 as being a challenging year but one with many opportunities.
"It is our view that retail conditions are slowly improving and business should look to review their business models and find ways to revamp and refocus their offer to shoppers", said Matthew Wales.
"With the roadworks now finished in Woy Woy, we expect that some of the retail dollars will flow back to the main Peninsula commercial centre and it is clear that Umina Beach is attracting shoppers from outside the area because of the easy access, great parking and positive attitude by retailers"
"All in all, the year looks pretty promising and the Chamber will continue to push for CBD improvements in co-operation with Gosford City Council", said Matthew Wales.
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AUSTRALIA DAY FLAGS IN WEST STREETThe Chamber of Commerce is happy to announce that it has purchased and co-ordinated the Australian flags being flown in West Street Umina for Australia Day 2012. These flags have replaced the Christmas flags that had been flying during the 2011 Christmas / New Year period. The results being that both these flags give West Street a bright and welcoming atmosphere for both locals and visitors to the main street of Umina Beach
CHAMBER CONCERNED OVER AGED CARE HOUSING CRISISYour Chamber has today raised concerns over the looming aged care housing shortage on the Peninsula following the release last month from the Department of Health & Ageing of the 2011 Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR). The Executive is very concerned that of the 250 residential care places allocated for the Central Coast Planning Region in 2011, only 68 were taken up leaving a shortfall of 182 places. No places were taken up on the Woy Woy Peninsula, the area of greatest demand. It is our view that there are a number of key factors for the under subscription including the lack of suitably zoned land for residential aged care housing on the Peninsula and the current difficulty in obtaining developer funding for these key housing projects.
The shortfall in availability and allocated places has been an ongoing trend in recent years which we believe is causing growing concern that our older population will face an aged care housing crisis over the next few years. Leading industry expert, Lyal Allen from QCare Australia has confirmed that land availability is a likely prime contributor to the shortfall in places.
Mr Allen has said that local providers are aware that the non availability of suitably zoned land is likely to have been a main contributor toward the shortfall in places sought under the 2010 ACAR and suspects that a similar situation has carried forward to the current ACAR. Mr Allen also said that what is concerning for the Woy Woy Peninsula is that as of the 30th June 2011, the Region has below the target number of operational places on stream with little prospect at the moment of new aged care facilities being built to accommodate the looming demand".
With below benchmark operational places and having the lowest supply ratio in NSW, the Central Coast (and particularly the Woy Woy Peninsula) faces at least a 2 to 3 year shortfall in residential aged care accommodation.
Your Chamber has confirmed that Gosford City Council are aware of the urgent need to aged care housing which is reflected in the Council's Draft Report on Demand for Low and High Care Residential Aged Care 2009. Since the Council prepared the 2009 Aged Care Report, the Federal uptake levels have fallen away. This is a worrying trend when the Peninsula has almost twice the NSW average age distribution for persons over 55 with a steady stream of older people who will be looking for higher levels of aged care.
The Chamber certainly doesn't want to see older Australians being forced into finding accommodation off the Peninsula separated from their family, friends and establised social networks. Older people should be able to enjoy their latter years here on Peninsula in appropriate high quality residential aged care facilities. Your Chamber will be making representations to Gosford City Council with the view to encouraging a pro-active debate on land availability and the provision of aged care services on the Woy Woy Peninsula.
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