FAQ

The Council endorses the public exhibition of draft plans and studies to give our community an opportunity to provide feedback before the documents are finalised and adopted by the Council.

The exhibition period is 81 days, from Saturday 23 December 2017 to Wednesday 14 March 2018.

The draft Plan and background studies are available in hard copy at Lake Mac Library Belmont, Swansea and Speers Point branches, and Council's Customer Service Centre, Main Road Speers Point.

Or view the documents online here or on Council's website lakemac.com.au.

1.  Online submission form at shape.lakemac.com.au/belmont-contributions 2.  Send written submissions to: CEO, Lake Macquarie City Council, Box 1906, Hunter Regional Mail Centre NSW 2310 3.  Email [email protected].

New development places additional demand on Council’s facilities and services.

Section 94 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 enables Council to levy new development to fund the additional facilities and services required by the growing community.  In order to levy a contribution, Council must have a contributions plan, and is required to levy in accordance with the contributions plan.

The Belmont Catchment Development Contributions Plan details the way developer contributions are collected and how they are proposed to be used by Council to provide enhanced community and recreational facilities.

The draft Belmont Catchment Development Contributions Plan is intended to replace the existing Belmont Contributions Catchment Plan and Contributions Plan – North Wallarah Peninsula (2004).

The draft Plan estimates development growth until the year 2030 and details the facilities and services required by the growing population and calculates the development contribution levies. 

The development contributions are proposed to fund upgrades to or additional community infrastructure including:

 upgrades to bus shelters;

open space and recreational facilities, such as parks, playgrounds, shared pathways, skate parks and swimming pools; and

community facilities, such as multipurpose centres and libraries.

The North Wallarah development falls within the Belmont catchment area. Since 2004, there has been a separate contributions plans for the North Wallarah development. Development forecast for this area has reduced from 5,665 persons to 3,241 persons, which is a 43 per cent reduction. 

Some of the infrastructure projects identified in the 2004 Plan have been completed and on account of the reduced forecast development, a number of the proposed facilities are no longer required in the North Wallarah development area. Therefore, it has been recommended that the North Wallarah catchment area is incorporated into the Belmont catchment area for the draft Belmont Catchment Development Contributions Plan 2018.

The following background studies were prepared to inform the preparation of the draft plan:

• Residential Population and Non-Residential Development Growth Forecasts;

• Recreation and Land Plan;

• Community Facilities and Services Study; and

• Traffic and Transportation Study.

Each of the studies assessed the needs of new development on Council’s facilities and services and determined whether the existing facilities have the capacity to meet the growing community’s needs. Where the facilities cannot meet the needs of new development, the studies identified the facilities required to meet the needs of the new development.

The City has been divided into five development contributions catchment areas including: ·  Toronto; ·  Morisset; ·  Charlestown; ·  Glendale; and ·  Belmont. Once adopted, the Belmont Catchment Development Contributions Plan will complete the updated catchment contribution plans. All of the Development Contribution Plans can be found on Council’s website at lakemac.com.au/development/plan/section-94-contributions. In addition to the five contribution plans listed above, there is a Northlakes Urban Release Area Development Contributions Plan. 

The draft Plan caters for an estimated additional 7,252 residents and 1,562 workers that will live and work in the Belmont catchment area by 2030. By 2030, draft Plan estimates an increase of 33,939m2 of commercial and industrial development in the catchment area. The development contributions are proposed to fund upgrades to bus shelters and upgraded and new open space and recreational facilities and community facilities.

Recreation is an important element in maintaining a balanced lifestyle.  Council is committed to providing a diverse range of recreation facilities throughout the city.  In delivering these facilities, Council is not only providing physical assets in the form of parks, playgrounds, swimming centres, shared pathways, and sportsgrounds, to name a few, but it is helping to deliver  a range of other benefits including:

·  Opportunities – for people to get in the outdoors, connect with nature, to get away from electronic devices and to be physically active.

·  A sense of community – people connecting with each other at these places, building relationships and safer communities, which helps to create respect, care and goodwill.

·  Lifestyle – People love living in the area and people who visit recognise the unique lifestyle Lake Macquarie offers.

·  Flow on Effects – increased physical activity helps to reduce obesity, in current and future generations. Research recognises the importance of connection to nature in increased wellbeing, and is particularly important for children.