The Anambah to Branxton regionally significant growth area (RSGA) is identified in the Hunter Regional Plan 2041 and is located across three local government areas – Singleton, Cessnock, and Maitland. The Hunter Regional Plan 2041 identifies that whilst growth may be able to be accommodated in the short to medium term, greater coordination is required to achieve a cohesive mix of residential and employment growth opportunities.  

The RSGA has the potential to support significant growth over the longer term (40 plus years). The RSGA is also currently experiencing significant demand across multiple development fronts, and already contains urban development and residential zoned land, as well as important agricultural land, conservation corridors and other important land uses.

Archipelago’s involvement with the Anambah to Branxton RSGA Enquiry by Design (EbD) process involved consultation with a range of stakeholders and has progressed concept planning and the development of strategic and site-specific planning principles. This project was undertaken collaboratively with the clients Maitland City Council, Cessnock City Council and Singleton Shire Council, and their partners in the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure and Transport for NSW. The Planning Studio assisted Archipelago with workshop facilitation and planning.

The objective of this component of work was to develop a Concept Plan, with accompanying strategic and site-specific planning principles to set the direction for the RSGA and guide future development across the growth corridor. This included the identification of areas for housing and employment, green corridors and environmental preservation areas, a centres hierarchy, major transport and infrastructure connections, and major social(community) infrastructure areas.

A significant project complexity involved the efficient comprehension and subsequent investigation of such a large and diverse area as well as an accurate representation of a vast spectrum of (often) competing interests. Our approach was to utilise an Enquiry by Design (EbD) process.

On the conclusion of a full day where the complete (25+ person) team visited and travelled around the RSGA, Archipelago spent two days in EbD workshops in Maitland bringing together participation and inputs from technical streams and stakeholders. Archipelago also held a stakeholder workshop separately with landowners and representatives to share an understanding of existing development conditions and pressures.

To offer an insight into our process, Day #1 of the EbD involved working at a large scale, looking at the context of the RSGA and the analysis / overlays that apply to it. Outcomes included working to obtain a general structure for centres using urban tissue of ‘walkable communities’, and a discussion of key values and priorities for different organisations, and their infrastructure needs. The identification of urban tissues were helpful at a broad scale to understand wide reaching structures and possible options before developing more nuanced structure plans and key moves. Day #2 involved focusing on specific locations within the RSGA and how they may be structured. Outcomes included 1:10,000 concept plans for different centres. The Concept Plan and strategic and site-specific planning principles drafted through this project are now being used to inform future strategic planning processes, such as structure planning and detailed precinct planning.

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