Draft MidCoast Rural Strategy

By 2038, Coastal regions could grow by more than 11,000 people, particularly around the Mid-Coast. Together, these regions have the potential to add more than 3,000 jobs to the NSW economy by 2038. The natural beauty of coastal areas should see further growth in tourism and continued migration from across NSW despite recent publicity associated with bushfires and COVID-19. Other sectors envisaged to lead jobs growth include retail, health and residential care industries. This reflects ongoing opportunities for further expansion of the residential care market in line with a forecast growth in demand. In the next two decades, there will be additional opportunities from new technology and infrastructure to attract skills and workers to Coastal regions, as attitudes to working remotely continue to shift. 11 However, to realise these opportunities, the Strategy also recognises the economic and environmental challenges that have been faced in many regions, including the MidCoast: Bushfire impacts were substantial in parts of the Coastal regions. They have since been exacerbated by foods and the COVID-19 pandemic that immediately followed. The most significant impact was on tourism, with the immediate loss of revenue and assets from the bushfires and lost revenue from COVID-19 travel restrictions leading to an estimated loss of 43 per cent of tourism and hospitality jobs in 2019-20. In the Far South Coast, many properties were damaged or destroyed and over 80 per cent of native hardwood forests burnt. Widespread storms and flooding experienced throughout NSW in early 2020 also impacted the south coast regions. Flood impacts were exacerbated by land that was denuded of vegetation by drought and bushfire, leading to soil erosion and contamination of water supplies. The focus going forward for these Coastal regions will be supporting communities to build their social resilience and diversify their economies to prepare for, and recover quicker from, natural disasters. 12 The NSW Government has also identified the following Priority Actions for economic growth, sustainability and resilience of regional areas, and the following relevant to the Rural Strategy: Table 5. NSW Government Priority Actions relevant to MidCoast Rural Strategy 13 Infrastructure Principle - Affordable, reliable and fast mobile and internet connectivity to support people and businesses Within 5 years we will investigate:

Over 5 to 10 years we will investigate

•improving digital connectivity across regional NSW beyond the NBN •technology-enabled regional public transport such as on-demand transport •innovative delivery methods for essential services in areas such as

•options to provide uninterrupted mobile phone and internet connectivity along major state and regional roads •low-bandwidth infrastructure for agricultural areas for

Draft MidCoast Rural Strategy

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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