The once-sleepy town of Cooranbong is fast emerging as one of the region’s growth hotspots, taking out top place for the second year running in a list of Lake Macquarie suburbs with the highest value of approved development.
Cooranbong accounted for $195 million worth of approved development in the 2022-23 financial year – almost 15 per cent of the city’s $1.3 billion total.
Neighbouring Morisset was sixth on the list with $59 million worth of development.
Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser said that with its capacity for new housing, proximity to the M1 and rail and major developments like the Cedar Mill precinct already in the works, the city’s south-west had been identified as a key growth centre for NSW.
“There is incredible potential in this part of our city, and it is good to see developers and investors realising this,” she said.
Cr Fraser said a Morisset Place Strategy under development would help guide future development and growth in the area.
“This is an area of strategic significance for population and jobs growth, but we need to ensure it is the right type of growth and the right type of development,” she said.
Charlestown, Edgeworth, Warners Bay and Belmont rounded out the top five suburbs for the highest value developments in the past financial year.
Lake Macquarie City Council Manager Development, Assessment and Certification Amy Regado said Council approved 2383 DAs in 2022-23, down on the 2021-22 peak of 2763.
Key approvals included a $29 million health services facility at Charlestown, multiple approvals worth a total $29 million for the new Watagan Park Town Centre in Cooranbong, and multiple DAs worth $50 million for a total 170 new homes on George Booth Drive at Cameron Park.
The median time taken to process a DA in Lake Mac has dropped by almost 40 per cent in the past four years, from 28 days in 2018-19 to just 17 in the past financial year.
“Timely decisions on DAs are a key factor to ensure housing can be delivered as quickly as possible,” Ms Regado said.
“Fast processing times also reduce the risk of the financial shock that comes with delays in processes like DA assessment.”
“We’re constantly working with the development industry and our community to understand how they are affected by supply chain issues, rising interest rates and increasing costs of living, and how our actions and decisions can take these into account.”
Council approved almost 400 new homes across the city over the past 12 months.
Ms Regado said Council was working to increase necessary housing stock by promoting ‘infill’ housing in established suburban areas, investigating rezoning in some places to allow for medium density development, and expediting DA processing times.
Go to shape.lakemac.com.au to have your say about the Morisset Place Strategy.
Highest value suburbs for development approvals
Suburb | 21/22 | 22/23 |
---|---|---|
COORANBONG | $201,067,044 | $194,843,959 |
CHARLESTOWN | $63,517,487 | $124,213,153 |
EDGEWORTH | $34,404,209 | $113,358,484 |
WARNERS BAY | $66,203,963 | $108,956,128 |
BELMONT | $100,038,659 | $90,078,779 |
MORISSET | $73,671,423 | $58,742,138 |
BOOLAROO | $93,389,927 | $41,012,217 |
REDHEAD | $63,759,144 | $38,025,418 |
CARDIFF | $34,846,288 | $31,296,564 |
CATHERINE HILL BAY | $49,602,806 | $27,966,165 |
A Place Strategy is a framework to manage the growth of an area. It streamlines the process by which land is rezoned to enable more housing, services and jobs, and to help manage biodiversity conservation, flooding and bush fire threats. A Place Strategy will enable state and local planning requirements to be considered up front for growth areas in and around Morisset, with funding support from the NSW Government.
Decisions on infrastructure investment often lag behind new growth areas and the delivery of more housing. An infrastructure-first, place-based approach to planning requires infrastructure providers, the development industry and government agencies to take a coordinated approach. This collaboration will achieve better outcomes for communities, industry and government.
Place Strategy planning establishes a platform around which the community, state and local government, business and other stakeholders can collaborate in pursuit of an agreed vision and, in turn, attract growth and investment that balances social, economic and environmental outcomes.
Morisset is identified as a regionally significant growth area within the Hunter Regional Plan 2041 and, as such, requires the preparation and implementation of a Place Strategy.
Morisset is a good place for growth with its strategic location and qualities, including direct and easy access to the M1 Motorway, the Main North railway line, infrastructure availability, amenity, land availability, and proximity to the Central Coast, Newcastle/Hunter and Sydney.
Morisset will emerge as a regionally significant mixed-use centre supporting diverse businesses and services, as well as opportunities for more intensive multi-storey commercial, mixed use and residential development. Land release will be staged to optimise infrastructure delivery. Local strategic planning will identify infrastructure needs early, and coordinate transportation improvements and infrastructure provision to support the timely and efficient release of land for development.
Investigations into ecology and stormwater management are required to determine conservation and development potential. Development must be balanced with biodiversity conservation, within the broader context of the identified green corridors. Detailed ecological investigations will focus on:
The boundary for the Place Strategy is based on the ‘Morisset regionally significant growth area’ identified in the Hunter Regional Plan 2041.
The Morisset Place Strategy will consider biodiversity, flooding, transport and other relevant planning matters usually considered through individual land rezoning proposals. Supporting the Place Strategy will be a growth and change map outlining preferred land uses and transport infrastructure requirements.
Preparing place strategies is a fairly new planning tool in NSW, and was first formally required in the Hunter region through the Hunter Regional Plan 2041, published in late 2022. Council has been working with NSW Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) over the past 12 months to advance the preparation of the Place Strategy for Morisset. This includes:
Council is proposing a three-step process:
The Place Strategy will set out objectives, planning principles and intentions for changes to the Lake Macquarie Local Environmental Plan (which specifies what can be built where through land use zones) and the Lake Macquarie Development Control Plan (which specifies certain design requirements for new development where Council is the approval authority). The Place Strategy will also form an addendum to the Lake Macquarie Local Strategic Planning Statement, which guides planning for the city, enshrined in State legislation.
The Place Strategy will serve as an infrastructure investment guide, and provide clarity for the community, government and industry on what and how Morisset will grow over the next 20-30 years.
A Place Strategy is a very high-level document that establishes future direction. If you are planning to submit a development application for a site in Morisset, you can continue to do so.
For larger residential, mixed-use or commercial development proposals within the Morisset town centre, please contact Council to discuss your proposal, as our proposed changes may have benefits for your proposal, subject to timeframes.
Planning Proposals prepared on land within or immediately adjoining the Morisset regionally significant growth area before the adoption of a Place Strategy must be consistent with the strategy outcomes identified in the Hunter Regional Plan 2041 for each regionally significant growth area.
Mandalong Road is a state road and in 2022, the Federal Government and NSW Government announced funding towards an upgrade of Mandalong Road between Gateway Boulevarde and Wyee Road.
Transport for NSW is responsible for delivering the works which involve widening Mandalong Road between Gateway Boulevarde and Wyee Road to provide two travel lanes in each direction along with a new signalised intersection at the Wyee Road/Freemans Drive intersection and a new signalised intersection at the Gateway Boulevarde/Mandalong Road Intersection.
Phone: 4921 0333
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 4921 0333
Email: [email protected]
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