Kempsey Shire Council will become part of the newly-formed Mid North Coast Joint Organisation which aims to increase unity and teamwork among different councils in the region.
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The Joint Organisation of Mid North Coast Councils (JOMNCC) aims to deliver regional projects, share council resources and create a stronger voice for negotiating with other levels of government.
Other members of the JO include Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Bellingen Shire, Nambucca Shire and Port Macquarie–Hastings councils.
Kempsey Shire Council’s general manager Craig Milburn said the NSW government and state authorities prefer to deal with JOs rather than separate councils.
“State authorities have indicated they prefer to channel regional and sub-regional strategic planning, coordination and infrastructure delivery through JOs in preference to dealing with multiple councils. Therefore, Councils who are not part of a JO will be at a disadvantage,” he said.
“Continuing to work with neighbouring councils allows us to work collaboratively and share resources while allowing a stronger negotiating voice with other levels of government,” Mr Milburn said.
Strategic Plan
A Strategic Plan has been created highlighting key objectives and goals of the JO in developing the Mid North Coast region.
The JOMNCC will focus on a number of initiatives, some of which include:
- Building strategic relationships between councils to deliver housing and employment land. For example, between Kempsey and Port Macquarie; Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour; and Coffs Harbour, Bellingen and Nambucca. The successful delivery of additional land depends on cross council cooperation.
- Expand existing growth industries. For example, health, education, agriculture, agribusiness and tourism (nature-based and indigenous)
- Protect high value environmental assets, biodiversity and farmland
- Increase housing density in regional cities and preserve the unique character of other centres
- Maximise opportunities for connectivity (people, jobs and goods) with the Pacific Highway upgrade. For example, between Nambucca and Coffs Harbour.
The JO’s Strategic Plan outlines a number of opportunities and challenges for developing the region including areas such as tourism, land use and an increasing population.
Tourism
“Tourism is viewed as a growth industry although most domestic visitors either spend one night or visit on a day trip to the six council areas,” the Strategic Plan reads.
“There is potential opportunity for improvement for both domestic and international visitors.
“Working as a group, the six councils could market ‘stay more than one day’ in the region which may increase visitors from both sources as will increasing the range of activities for tourists, for example, into nature-based activities.”
Land
Efficient use of land on the Mid North Coast to cater for urban and employment growth whilst protecting biodiversity and farmland is also a challenge discussed in the Strategic Plan.
“Proposed urban growth maps to 2036 also highlight the limited amount of land available for urban land and employment land.The key focus for the future will be to deliver sustainable land use which protects biodiversity and environmental values and directs urban and rural residential development away from important farmland,” the plan reads.
Population
The issue of an increasing population is another major area the JO will focus on.
“Population changes to 2036 will most likely increase the size of the two regional cities (Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie) and to a lesser extent Grafton. This has implications for the availability of land (within a generally constrained supply in this region) for:
- Housing and employment land
- The protection of agricultural land
- The protection of high environmental value land and biodiversity
- The need to proactively address the potential impacts of climate change and extreme weather events.
“The Pacific Highway upgrade should provide significant benefits for people to ‘get around the region’ especially between Kempsey and Port Macquarie and between Coffs Harbour, Bellingen and Nambucca. This has implications for how JOMNCC views potential in the local and regional community, their interconnectedness and the hierarchy of cities and centres.”
A full copy of the Joint Organisation’s Strategic Plan can be found here.
