Plans for a major urban release in Maitland’s west shows that the region’s rapidly expanding population is showing no signs of turning around.
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Maitland City Council’s Anambah Urban Release plan cleared another hurdle on Tuesday night, when councillors voted to amend the plan and put it on public exhibition again.
If introduced, the plan will pave the way for a large chunk of land near Rutherford and Lochinvar to be rezoned into about 3000 residential lots.
That means scope for 3000 new homes – and 3000 more families who could one day call the Maitland area their home.
Ultimately, the approval will rest in the hands of the state government.
The Anambah plan is the last major release set for Maitland’s western suburbs.
The Lochinvar and Farley urban release plans are more advanced – development applications have been lodged in those areas. Council expects the Anambah release to be ready for bricks and mortar in two to five years.
“Sustained population growth in the western sector is expected to be maintained through ongoing development of employment land in the Rutherford locality,” the latest Maitland Council report noted.
While some people in the community might mourn the loss of rural land, the growth in population potentially holds the key to a bonanza for Maitland’s economy.
Given the region’s recent history of high unemployment and the prospect of life after the dominance of the mining industry, a higher population means a larger market for small businesses and more money flowing through the economy.
But a rapidly growing population also means there will be more demand placed on services and infrastructure in the Maitland area.
That means the community needs to keep pressure on governments – at all levels – to provide adequate services and infrastructure to cater for this growth.
Schools, health services and roads, all of which have been hot political topics in the Lower Hunter in recent years, will likely remain so into the future.
Population growth in the west will also reinforce the need for a new public high school in the Rutherford area and put pressure on the state government to deliver the long-awaited Lower Hunter hospital at Metford.
