A new strategy is in place to plan for projected population growth in the right places and in the right way.
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About 500 new dwellings a year will be needed to accommodate the projected population growth in the local government area through to 2036.
Councillors adopted the revised Urban Growth Management Strategy at the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council meeting on June 20 after the meeting heard from community representatives and consultants.
But the work doesn’t stop there.
The focus turns to more detailed planning and community engagement to progress the actions in the strategy.
A council report said the strategy was all about urban development in the Port Macquarie-Hastings including housing, retail, industry and tourism.
“It is about planning for projected population growth, in the right places and in the right way, to create a more diverse and prosperous economy and to maintain a healthy environment and great places to live,” the report said.
The strategy has a 20 year timeframe but also looks at longer term growth options.
There are key actions to be implemented over the next five years.
They include plans for a new Health and Education Precinct, plans for an airport business park and a review of planning for the Port Macquarie and Wauchope town centres.
Other actions earmarked over the next five years feature a new urban release area at Yippin Creek in Wauchope, neighbourhood planning in Kendall, a rural residential investigation area in Telegraph Point and new residential investigation areas at Lake Cathie, Fernbank Creek and Sancrox.
We need to accommodate people and we need to accommodate them in different ways which the Urban Growth Management Strategy speaks to.
- Mayor Peta Pinson
Mayor Peta Pinson said the strategy set a blueprint for the future.
“We need to accommodate people and we need to accommodate them in different ways which the Urban Growth Management Strategy speaks to,” she said.
Cr Pinson said the strategy provided clarity.
Cr Geoff Hawkins said there had been substantial community consultation around the strategy and there would be more consultation as it rolled out into implementation.
Deputy mayor Lisa Intemann said growth was largely driven by people’s desire to come here and developers’ desire to provide housing and land for those people.
She acknowledged that growth came at a cost but suggested the council was taking an appropriate middle ground.
Cr Peter Alley said the strategy identified areas for development, but also importantly, it identified areas they were not going to develop.
Cr Rob Turner said: “I’m really comfortable this document is a significant improvement on what we’ve had before, both in terms of process and both in terms of what’s in it.”
Cr Justin Levido said one of the benefits of the strategy was it allowed council to look at all this on a community-wide basis and take into account what was important for the whole community.
Cr Mike Cusato raised a few concerns including the town centre hierarchy within the document and ensuring there were not too many centres outside the town centre.
He stressed the importance of the upcoming Koala Plan of Management and Biodiversity Strategy.
The Urban Growth Management Strategy has been developed in parallel with a new Biodiversity Strategy and Koala Plan of Management that focus on protecting the environment.
Director Jeffery Sharp said the strategy was the guiding light for our community’s future and set the strategic vision for how we were going to grow in a sustainable way.
He said the community had provided valuable input and feedback during the strategy’s development including attending a number of workshops and engagement opportunities.
“In addition to this face-to-face community engagement, we’ve seen more than 1,480 visits to council’s website seeking further information and 120 formal submissions have been received on a wide range of issues,” Mr Sharp said.