Draft MidCoast Rural Strategy

Prioritise planning for ecological health and biodiversity Council recognises the intrinsic value of the natural environment and has identified its protection as one of five core values in the MidCoast Community Strategic Plan. Conservation and protection of our natural landscapes can encompass all environmentally sensitive land, and areas of high environmental, social and cultural value to the community. Due to the desirable lifestyle our region offers we will continue to experience pressures on our environmental and rural land. Council with other key stakeholders and State agencies, has an integral role in protecting our lifestyle and natural environment by providing a land use planning framework that balances competing interests of development and conservation. Through sustainable management of our natural resources, Council and the community can deliver positive social, economic and environmental outcomes. In recognition of this, placing the MidCoast’s biodiversity and ecological health at the forefront of our planning practices is crucial to actioning the Community Strategic Plan. Figure 13. Hunter Regional Plan 'Proposed Biodiversity Corridors' 58

Biodiversity is the variety of life forms, the different plants, animals and micro-organisms, the genes they contain and the ecosystems they form. It recognises that all of life depends on ecological systems, with particular emphasis on the ‘high biodiversity values’

Draft MidCoast Rural Strategy

Articles inside

Table 10. Recommended E3 Environmental Management Zone Criteria

Table 9. Recommended E2 Environmental Conservation Zone Criteria

Figure 18. NSW Planning Legislation Framework

Figure 17. Current Planning Controls, from Local Strategic Planning Statement

Figure 16. Coastal Zone of the MidCoast, Coastal Management SEPP 2018

Figure 15. Priority Drinking Water Catchments and Aquifer Catchments in the MidCoast

Figure 14. Broad Catchment Areas of the MidCoast from the Rural Waterways paper

Figure 13. Hunter Regional Plan 'Proposed Biodiversity Corridors'

Figure 12. The MidCoast LGA - Location, Infrastructure and Natural Assets

Figure 11. Location of MidCoast centres, from Local Strategic Planning Statement

Figure 10. Experiences available across the 'Green Grid' of the MidCoast

Figure 9. Destination Barrington Coast, statistics from December 2020

Figure 8. Our Growing and Changing Population, from MidCoast Housing Strategy

Figure 7: Typical mine or quarry project life cycle

Figure 6: Location of underground resources in the MidCoast

Table 8. MidCoast Tourism Destination Management Plan SWOT of Rural Tourism

Figure 5. MidCoast contribution to NSW economy by agricultural industry (ABS 2011

Table 7. MidCoast LSPS Planning Priorities relevant to the Rural Strategy

Table 6. MidCoast 2030 Goals and Actions relevant to the Rural Strategy

Table 5. NSW Government Priority Actions relevant to MidCoast Rural Strategy

Figure 4. Location Quotients and Employment Growth for MidCoast Industries

Figure 3. Strategic Actions for Priority Growth Industries in the Hunter

Figure 2. Hunter Regional Development Investment Prospectus, Local Government Areas

Table 4. Data Gaps identified in Background Reports to Rural Strategy

Table 1. Non-Urban Zones from the Standard Instrument Principal Local Environmental Plan available to use across the rural landscape of the MidCoast Local Government Area

Table 2. Strategic Centres and Centres of Local Significance, Hunter Regional Plan 2036

Table 3. Major legislation, policy and strategies influencing the Rural Strategy

Figure 1. Rural, Environmental and Waterway zoned land considered in the Rural Strategy

1 Strategic Goals and Local Planning...................................................................................64

1 Data Gaps – Challenges and Opportunities......................................................................19