Making it happen

The regional plan takes an infrastructure-first and place-based approach to future growth.

This requires infrastructure providers, the development industry and public authorities to take an integrated and coherent place-based approach to land use planning through:

• an urban development program
• infrastructure benchmark
• place strategies for specific areas.

Read the Hunter Regional Plan 2041 – Part 1 (PDF, 48.3 MB) to learn more.

The urban development program (UDP) is the NSW Government’s program for managing land and housing supply and assisting infrastructure coordination.

The UDP already exists in Greater Newcastle but will be expanded to the Upper Hunter and MidCoast region. This will provide a strong evidence base through quarterly reporting of land supply, dwelling construction and demand.

Two UDP committees will operate with councils, industry and agency representatives participating in the Lower Hunter and Greater Newcastle UDP, and Upper Hunter and MidCoast UDP.

The UDP committees will:

• identify and remove barriers and disincentives for infill housing
• oversee a pipeline of housing and employment land supply across the region to identify opportunities to increase supply across the Hunter
• track the supply of infill and greenfield land supply, completions, whether the land is serviced or contains biodiversity constraints/values, and infrastructure servicing data of housing and employment land
• identify opportunities to accelerate the supply of land for housing and employment including improvements to land rezoning, release, and servicing
• make land use and infrastructure sequencing recommendations that may result in more cost-effective housing and job delivery
• monitor the density of development across the region
• provide sequencing plan and delivery report.

An infrastructure benchmarking framework will allow us to build more homes or facilitate more jobs were infrastructure costs less.

The department is preparing a framework to assess the:

• capacity of existing infrastructure
• potential take-up scenarios of future development
• extent, type, cost and timing of new infrastructure.

The cost effectiveness of supplying infrastructure to homes or businesses will influence government decision-making on where new homes or jobs should be located.

Additional analysis will also consider the wider impacts and benefits resulting from this potential infrastructure investment.

Realigning the Place Delivery Program

The Place Delivery Program was reviewed to align with the government’s target of providing 377,000 new homes by 2029.

Planning reforms, such as the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy, Transport Oriented Development Program and the Rezoning Pathways Program mean some locations nominated for place strategies are no longer required and the department will not be accepting additional nominations.

All active place strategies under the Place Delivery Program have been assessed and the department has advised stakeholders of next steps and pathways to advance commitments. Potential pathways may include:

• councils progressing as a local strategy or proponents progressing further strategic planning or site-specific studies
• council progressing a planning proposal
• the department preparing Infrastructure Opportunities Plans with Urban Development Program committees to support resolution of infrastructure issues
• the department offering case management support with relevant agencies to provide planning proposal requirements and unlock planning related issues relevant to those commitments
• the department and councils considering opportunities for state rezoning pathways for areas identified through the housing reforms following local strategic planning and/or further technical investigations.

Six cities planning

The Greater Cities Commission will produce a Six Cities Regional Plan. The plan will celebrate the diversity and unique offering of each city and how each contributes to broader region.

Once that plan is adopted, the commission will then work towards a city plan for the Lower Hunter and Greater Newcastle City.

The Hunter Regional Plan 2041 will take the status of a district city plan until it is repealed by the commission’s City Plan.

Monitoring and performance measures

We will produce an annual report on the implementation of the regional plan to act as an accountability framework to each action and objective.

Measures will include:

• percentage of infill or greenfield development
• timeframe and responsibility to complete each action
• number of years of zoned and serviced land
• average travel time and mode of choice between and within the region
• amount of land retained for areas of regional biodiversity value
• the number of low risk, no risk, or high risk planning proposals.

The Place Delivery Group program applies to areas moving from strategic planning to construction. It aims to realise the vision of the Hunter Regional Plan 2041 and the Central Coast Regional Plan 2041 sooner as on-the-ground outcomes.

In December 2022, the NSW Government announced Broadmeadow as a regionally significant growth area as part of the Hunter Regional Plan 2041. The plan sets the strategic direction for land use planning to help create vibrant and connected communities in the Hunter region.

The Broadmeadow precinct is close to Newcastle's CBD and presents a once in a generation opportunity to achieve city-shaping outcomes that will define Newcastle for decades to come.

Learn more about the Broadmeadow Rezoning Proposal.

The Hunter Regional Plan 2036 (PDF, 3.6 MB) provided the NSW Government’s land use vision for the Hunter. Since its release in 2016, the NSW Government has worked with councils, other stakeholders and the community to deliver on key priorities, which informed this regional plan.

These actions include:

• the release of the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Plan: Part 1 (PDF, 4.6 MB), Part 2 (PDF, 7 MB) and implementation of catalyst areas
• agreement to a memorandum of understanding with the Hunter Joint Organisation on implementation of the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Plan 2036
• exhibition of a draft Hunter Expressway Strategy
• establishment of the Greater Newcastle Urban Development Program and release of the Greater Newcastle Urban Development Program Annual Report 2018-19 (nsw.gov.au).