No, Council is connecting the sewer to the coastal villages because of the public health and environmental benefits.
Overall there is limited potential for growth in the sewer system areas. The system is only being sized to accommodate a limited number of extra connections consisting of identified infill, vacant blocks and a minimal number of town house developments.
Once the sewer system is in place the capacity of the system will not be able to be increased in the future to respond to new development. Rural land that has already been zoned for development will be accommodated by the sewer system but there will be no capacity within the system for any new land releases.
The land on the corner of Keevers Drive and Perry’s Road in Repton is currently zoned for residential purposes. While the land is yet to be developed, there is the potential for over 200 new residential lots to be accommodated on the land (subject to a detailed subdivision design). This kind of subdivision is referred to ‘greenfield development’ The sewer system will be able to service this land if it is ever developed.
In January 2020 Council approved the Bellingen Shire Local Housing Strategy. This 20 year strategy outlines Council’s approach to future growth across the Shire. The Strategy commits to new growth within existing towns through well designed infill rather than releasing further rural land for subdivisions. It includes infill growth goals for different locations across the Shire over 20 years. Overall Council anticipates that half of the Shires growth over the next 20 years will come from well- designed infill with the remainder coming from subdivisions on land that has already been zoned for development.
The infill growth goal for Mylestom, Repton and Raleigh is 56 dwellings over 20 years.
Significant growth is expected in Urunga over the same period. There is land in Urunga currently zoned for development that has the capacity for up to 1,000 extra dwellings.