No moratorium on land rezoning despite Camden Haven's sewage and wastewater pressures

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has decided that investigations into increasing capacity at the area's treatment plants will now run parallel to the preparation of land for new development.

A report prepared by council staff recommended against proceeding with existing or new planning proposal requests to rezone land, until the subsequent sewage loading on the Port Macquarie, Kew/Kendall and Wauchope wastewater treatment plants is addressed.

The report also considered that existing zoned land provided significant opportunity for continued growth to support the housing demand in the short-term.

But at council's ordinary meeting, Mayor Peta Pinson said she could not support putting the brakes on the economy.

"We are a growing region," she said. "If we were to enact a moratorium on current and future rezoning, we are really shooting ourselves in the foot."

Instead, planning proposals for land rezoning that will increase pressure on three of the area's treatment plants will progress through to assessment - but not beyond the finalisation stage.

That is, until the design work and approvals are in place to upgrade the three wastewater treatment plants.

Cr Pinson said the council needed to foster a new relationship with the construction and development industry, and consultants, and they needed to work in parallel with each other.

The council decision means planning proposals will be publicly exhibited and assessed, and held up if necessary, just before making the Local Environmental Plan (LEP) amendment.

LEPs guide planning decisions through zoning and development controls.

Council will continue to implement its strategic planning program and agreed to investigate additional resources to support the strategic planning team. A report to the November meeting will cover the council's approach to assessing planning proposals.

Cr Josh Slade spoke about the need for the Port Macquarie-Hastings blueprint to go ahead to address any key shortfalls in infrastructure and strategy.

Cr Rachel Sheppard said if the council was going to look at fronting up to wastewater treatment plant capacity challenges, it would have to make hard decisions and there were going to be portions of the community impacted by the decisions it made.

A roundtable was needed to bring together staff, councillors and developers, Cr Lisa Intemann said.

The council meeting heard from five speakers - Michael Mowle, Graham Burns, George Miedecke, Scott Marchment and Michelle Love - opposing the staff recommendation.

Mr Mowle, speaking on behalf of Hastings Construction Industry Association, said the industry was asking the council to move on with the strategic planning needed to deliver land for future housing.

The association represents the broader housing and construction industry which employs 3000 people directly and thousands more indirectly.

Mr Marchant spoke about Port Macquarie-based consultancy King & Campbell's submission to the council.

He said they were seeking the council's consideration of an alternative recommendation that provided for wastewater treatment plant capacity constraints to be resolved in parallel with council continuing its strategic planning work including progressing existing and new planning proposals.

There are eight wastewater treatment plants in the Port Macquarie-Hastings sewerage scheme.

Wastewater drains to pumping stations and from there, travels through pipelines to a wastewater treatment plant. Solids are removed and clean water is returned to the environment.

The Port Macquarie wastewater treatment plant is working at or over its original design capacity.

There are plans for a new plant at Thrumster, west of Port Macquarie, which will ease the demands on the Port Macquarie plant and bring it under the original design capacity.

The commissioning of the Thrumster facility is at least five years away.

The Kew/Kendall wastewater treatment plan is at or over its original design treatment capacity, while the Wauchope plant is at or over its "biologic load" treatment capacity, the council report said.

The expansion of the Kew/Kendall plant is planned to start this financial year and be completed in 2024.

The report said preliminary investigations into the expansion of the Wauchope plant are planned to start in the 2023/24 operational plan.