Urban Growth Management Strategy

Our vision for the Port Macquarie-Hastings local government area is a “sustainable high quality of life for all”. In the Urban Growth Management Strategy this means that land use and population growth will be managed to maintain and enhance quality of life for all persons in the community in a balanced way for current and future generations. A “balanced way” means that social, economic and ecological objectives are balanced with each other.

This strategy helps us to plan and deliver growth and change, provide opportunities for new housing and economic development and informs our local environmental plan and the assessment of planning proposals and development applications.

The Strategy contains a number of key actions to be implemented over the next 5 years, including:

• Plans for a new Health and Education Precinct, which encompasses the Port Macquarie Base Hospital, Charles Sturt University and surrounding land;
• Plans for an Airport Business Park at Port Macquarie;
• A review of planning for the Port Macquarie and Wauchope CBDs;
• 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

The Urban Growth Management Strategy is not a standalone document, and has been developed in parallel with a new Biodiversity Strategy and Koala Plan of Management, that focus on protecting our local environment. New strategies that explore our future transport, water, stormwater and sewerage needs have also been valuable contributors to the strategy.

The Port Macquarie-Hastings Urban Growth Management Strategy 2017-2036 was approved by the NSW State Government on 2nd November 2018. The approval allows Council to proceed with all of the proposed investigations and key Implementation Actions detailed in the 2017 UGMS.

For land outside the Urban Growth Area boundary in the Regional Plan (i.e. at Fernbank Creek and Sancrox), Council will need to seek the Department’s approval, prior to proceeding with planning proposals. The Department has also noted that detailed assessment of site-specific development constraints will be required at the structure plan and planning proposal stage, including proximity to mineral resources, regionally significant farmland and potential high-environmental-value land. The conditions are not expected to limit Council’s ability to implement the strategy.