Harrowvale - The Future Of Housing For Parkes Assured
Published on 11 October 2024
At a time when pessimism seems the norm, I have never been more optimistic about the future of Parkes. Accordingly, I am pleased to advise that Parkes Shire Council has recently purchased the 330-hectare property Harrowvale, to commence designing a future residential suburb. We anticipate the land purchase will be funded by future industrial land sales and will not be activated until existing residential land is significantly taken-up, which may be a number of years away.
The availability of land for residential expansion is a common theme when we consult with the community. This is a very affirmative step by Council to ensure adequate residential land will be available well into the future. The size of the land also allows for well-considered master-planning of the entire site.
Harrowvale is situated on the eastern edge of Parkes, between Henry Parkes Way (Orange Road), Military Road and Cookamidgera Road. It has quality arable soil, slopes gently from east to west and is predominantly above major flooding levels. The nature of the terrain will make building relatively easy, and the size of the land will potentially provide for several thousand lots.
As we all know the location of Parkes on the national transport network is an unassailable fact and has driven the NSW Government investment in the Parkes Special Activation Precinct (SAP). It is forecast that the SAP has the potential to create up to 3,000 jobs across a range of industries over the next 30 years, particularly, Freight and Logistics, Warehousing, Value-add agriculture, Plant based meat substitutes, Innovative Grains, Cold-Chain Logistics, Resource recovery and recycling, E-Waste Recycling, Plastics Recycling, Renewable energy, Critical minerals and Data Centres.
The State Government is progressing industrial development in the SAP and has a potential of well over a billion dollars of investment over the next five years in leading edge energy and recycling technology, right on the edge of Parkes. Beyond the SAP, we are also being approached for industrial land, the focus is certainly on Parkes. It is also important to ensure there is suitable land to meet the needs of our existing community, as they look for their first home, seek to upsize or move to downsize existing homes.
However, the common question of big business is…where will our future employees live?
Well, we can now answer that question decisively, with the potential to develop several thousand lots on Harrowvale. Once the existing residential land is significantly taken up, our aim will be to have Harrowvale ready to go!
Cr Neil Westcott
Mayor of Parkes Shire