Draft MidCoast Rural Strategy

Provide accommodation and services for rural communities The majority of the MidCoast's population live and work along the coast, within reasonable commuting distance to Forster-Tuncurry, Taree and Newcastle and these major centres are expected to continue to provide the highest order of employment and services to residents and visitors in the coming decades. Across the MidCoast there are 195 documented towns, villages and localities. Many of our rural communities live outside the MidCoast's main urban settlement areas and represent at least 5% of the 93,500 people who live in the local government area. Each of these communities, their town or their village, is unique, having populations as small as 40 to over 600, being in both coastal areas and the rural hinterland, having a diverse level of services and infrastructure, connectedness and remoteness. Given the make-up of each community and the built environment they inhabit is so broad, it is acknowledged that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to providing the right scale and mix of uses to support their daily needs and ensuring that mix remains relevant as populations and community needs change. Long-term planning and plan-making can therefore only be informed by localised considerations, developed in close consultation with key stakeholders and communities over time. This process commenced with the exhibition of the MidCoast housing Strategy in 2020 which outlined broad recommendations for land uses and development standards for the RU5 Village zone and associated development standards. Figure 8. Our Growing and Changing Population, from MidCoast Housing Strategy

However, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been pressure on our rural towns and villages to support a rapidly growing and increasingly diverse community. This trend is not unique to the MidCoast, as confirmed by Fiona Simpson, President National Farmers Federation, to the National Press Club on 15 July 2020. In her presentation Ms Simpson outlined the Regional Australia Institute’s finding that in the

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