NAMBUCCA Valley Council is preparing to publicly exhibit its updated Rural Residential Land Release Strategy, marking the first major review of the document in 17 years.
At its 22 April meeting, Council resolved to include probable maximum flood mapping in the draft strategy before placing it on public exhibition, giving the community an opportunity to provide feedback.
The review has identified an additional 651.45 hectares of land with the potential to yield approximately 518 rural residential lots, opening the door for future housing opportunities across the Valley.
Council General Manager Bede Spannagle said the updated strategy is an important step in planning for the region’s growth.
“Councils are responsible for ensuring its local government area has enough land available to meet predicted population growth, balanced against the current infrastructure and environmental constraints,” he said.
“Our planning team undertook the review over the past 12 months and identified 651.45 hectares of additional land from outside the current land release strategy areas that could be rezoned for rural residential purposes.
“These areas are largely in Congarinni, Utungun and Newee Creek.
“While we are proposing to release land in these areas to allow opportunities to be more evenly spread across the shire, we are also looking to remove some land at Warrell Creek and Utungun which have been identified as having agricultural significance and to minimise the potential of land use conflict.”
The draft strategy is intended to provide a clear framework for managing rural residential land across the Nambucca Valley, balancing growth with environmental and infrastructure considerations.
Once the flood mapping is finalised, the document will be made available for public viewing both online and at Council’s Macksville administration building, as well as local libraries throughout the Valley.
Following the exhibition period, community submissions will be reviewed and reported back to Council, along with recommendations on how to proceed.
If adopted, the strategy will then be forwarded to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure for endorsement, paving the way for future rezoning applications.
By Mick BIRTLES
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