The Hunter Region has literally and figuratively been built on coal. What was once a vast array of coalmining villages and towns spread throughout the Lower Hunter has grown into what is now referred to as the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Area.
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Whilst the coal industry remains an integral part of the regional, state and national economies, and will likely be so for some decades yet, mining has moved further up the valley and we have immense opportunity to utilise the legacy that some of those former coal mines have created.
These opportunities range from leveraging our existing skills, knowledge, and electrical infrastructure into becoming a leader in renewable power and related technologies, to the adaptive re-use of post-mining land and its associated infrastructure.
The current review of the Hunter Regional Plan and Hunter Regional Transport Plan provide us with the ideal opportunity to look at how we best capture those opportunities.
The most notable opportunity is the Port of Newcastle. Our port is capable of, and has the capacity to, diversify well beyond coal to strengthen our economy.
On a smaller scale, more relevant to the day-to-day liveability of our region, the Fernleigh Track is a great example of adaptive re-use of mining infrastructure.
The historic Richmond Vale Rail Corridor is also being planned for transformation into a similar shared path for the benefit of the community. The former coastal rail corridor and jetty at Catherine Hill Bay provides a similar opportunity.
Likewise, the South Maitland Rail Corridor is another piece of soon-to-be-legacy mining infrastructure that is capable of some form of adaptive re-use.
The line runs from the Main Northern Rail Line at Telarah, past new housing estates to Pelton (south-west of Cessnock). Its potential as a thoroughfare must be given appropriate consideration for the immediate future and longer term.
Looking beyond infrastructure, the former mining landholdings themselves present enormous prospects for the Lower Hunter.
Already, some of these sites are approved or being considered for significant environmental conservation, housing, recreation and tourism options for our growing Hunter population.
For example, the former Coal and Allied site at Minmi was identified 13 years ago as a key part of our region's housing supply pipeline and is approved to deliver 3300 lots.
Unfortunately, most of the Minmi housing estate is held-up by existing road capacity constraints on the roundabout at the intersection of the Newcastle Link Road and Minmi Road.
Transport for NSW is requiring an upgrade of over $60 million before it will allow the subdivision to progress. It is well beyond the ability of any developer to fund such a substantial upgrade to make up for TfNSW's lack of planning and investment in enabling infrastructure to facilitate delivery of the regional plan.
The Newcastle Link Road/Minmi Road intersection upgrade underscores the importance for the Hunter Regional Transport Plan to be intrinsically linked to the Regional and Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Plans.
The Hunter's huge potential for employment growth in renewable technologies, med-tech, health, defence, defence manufacturing, tourism (the list goes on!) can only be realised if we ensure sufficient infrastructure is appropriately planned, funded and made available as and when needed.
It is imperative that the Hunter Regional Transport Plan outlines how to achieve strong regional connectivity across all forms of transport.
It must come with clarity on the transport infrastructure corridors and upgrades necessary to support the growth of the region and be backed with sufficient budget allocations and delivery and governance mechanisms to ensure the corridors and upgrades are delivered.
A review of the potential future use of the South Maitland Rail Corridor would ideally form part of the review, as should the existing rail loops and associated landholdings of the Bloomfield Colliery site near Maitland and the former Glencore site at Teralba, amongst others.
We should also be putting the longer-term planning in place for the future of existing mine sites in the Upper Hunter.
The next iterations of the Regional Transport Plan and Regional Plan should put a framework in place to provide for a well-connected, economically vigorous, and environmentally sustainable region.
It is incumbent on all of us to engage with governments at all levels to ensure we maximise the benefits of these opportunities and create a vibrant, well-planned Hunter Region.
If we get this right, not dissimilar to the mining industry, we have the opportunity to create a positive lasting legacy.
Geoffrey Rock is chairman of the Hunter Chapter of the Urban Development Institute of Australia and a director and manager of Development Services at Monteath & Powys
The South Maitland Rail Corridor is another piece of soon-to-be-legacy mining infrastructure that is capable of some form of adaptive re-use.
