First off regarding development, the responsibility cannot be laid solely with Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, as the NSW government, developers, and incoming residents are also part of the reason there has been such a significant increase in population in the last ten years or so. 

To offer some history, years ago the state government made it compulsory that all councils adopted the same Standard Local Environmental Plan (LEP). This took a lot of control out of the hands of council concerning how proposed development was dealt with. In essence, the NSW government wanted to make it easier for development to be approved all around the state. 

Ancillary to that, all councils are to apply the same traffic standards - which has always seemed like a nonsense to me, but individual councils have no choice in this.

About 15 years ago, council responded to the increasing pressure for development by adopting a precinct approach to new development. Development with existing decades-old approvals such as Maher’s Headland on the south of the new Oxley Highway could legally still enact their existing zoning. Similarly, a lot of the Lake Innes area also had existing decades-old residential zoning applying.

In consultation with the community, council then did a whole of area assessment of where development could be most appropriately located. As a general rule it was determined that development should head westward, and be contained in precincts rather than sprawling continuously west or south along the coast. 

This effectively supported development firstly in the Thrumster area. Intensive studies were undertaken, and long-running consultation with the development industry as well as community members representing resident and environmental views. The outcome was that some parts of Thrumster were opened for development zoning and some parts protected for environmental reasons. This was a game-changing way of approaching development, and council is to be congratulated for adopting that process.

A similar process was applied to what is called Area 14 - between Bonny Hills and Lake Cathie. I dispute what you say about sprawl from Lake Cathie to Bonny Hills. The development you see taking place between the two is contained in a specific bounded area.

Certainly there was some community opposition to these developments. But in the face of industry pressure for development and the effects of the Standard LEP, council could not simply refuse developments when applied for.

I will make a couple of points about traffic.

Firstly, I agree with you regarding Lake Innes and one road in and out, and I’ve raised this as a concern with staff many times. But please take note of my comments above regarding existing historic approvals, the NSW Standard LEP, and common traffic standards across the state, all of which have contributed to the present situation. 

Council is moving to address the result of these causal problems with planning for the ‘orbital’ road you mention - not necessarily from Lake Innes to Lighthouse, but from Ocean drive to Oxley Highway (and also a road from Oxley Highway to Hastings River Drive). These new roads will have a huge cost - estimated around $1 billion - and council cannot fund them alone, or even plan for them alone, and has already been in consultation with the RMS for some time on this matter, as well as with local members. 

Because of these consultations, the planned new road is already included in NSW regional planning maps for our area. 

The Port Macquarie-Hastings area has been designated by the NSW government as a regional city and a centre for strong growth, so surely the state should allocate proper funding to ensure that congestion issues are properly addressed.

Regarding Lake Road, I agree that widening it to two lanes both ways is not the solution. It is simply one action that council can undertake now. 

Regarding the Wrights Road-Oxley Highway intersection traffic lights, that is a NSW government matter and I suggest you write to the local member with your concerns. Regarding the double lanes on Ocean Drive, that was a state election promise in 2010 and my understanding is that it was not originated by council. 

Incidentally, council’s urban growth management strategy has just been on exhibition, mapping out future growth areas and those areas to be afforded environmental protection.

Cr Lisa Intemann

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council

Cr Lisa Intemann’s comments are her own and not necessarily those of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council