Clayton Barr and Cessnock City Council criticise Draft Hunter Regional Plan

Mr Barr said the draft strategy includes no plan to use the Hunter Expressway for development, expansion, industry or other use, a move he labelled “absurd and ridiculous”.

“It is like the authors of the draft plan sat in a time machine, went back to 2009 and wrote the plan not knowing that the HEX would be built,” he said.

The exclusion of Kurri from the proposed Hunter City has been criticised by Cessnock City Council in its draft submissions on the strategy.

Councils are formalising submissions on the Draft Hunter Regional Plan, the planning blueprint for the next 20 years, and the associated Draft Plan for Growing Hunter City, which are on exhibition until March 24.

Hunter City includes part of the Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Port Stephens local government areas (LGAs) and all of the Newcastle council area. The Cessnock LGA is located in the adjacent “Western Hunter” subregion but parts of the council area also fall within an identified Hunter City Hinterland.

Cessnock Council questioned the logic behind the Hunter City boundary in draft submissions prepared by council staff, in particular the relegation of Kurri to the hinterland. The Cessnock submission queries the implications “for urban land being located outside the Hunter City boundary” .

It notes the regional plan contains contradictory mapping that in one diagram also includes Cessnock within the proposed hinterland, but in another only Kurri. “This mapping anomaly is reflected in a lack of adequate definition and role for the proposed ‘Hinterland,’ as it is neither its own distinct subregion nor a part of ‘Hunter City,” the council report says.

It also expresses concern about the regional plan’s focus on Hunter City in comparison to the other three subregions.