Growth Management and Housing Strategy
Project update 14 July 2025
At the Planning Committee meeting on 3 April 2025, Council agreed to endorse the draft Growth Management and Housing Strategy Options Paper, subject to several recommendations and changes. These changes have been added to the updated Options Paper (Version 02), please refer to text in the red text boxes for changes. Council’s resolution to further edit, amalgamate and remove some of the Change sites was based on a multi-criteria assessment process which was undertaken across each of the Change sites.
The next step is to turn the Options Paper into a draft Strategy. Council will work with a consultant and staff from across Council to prepare this draft. The draft Strategy will then be shared with the community for feedback. It’s expected to be ready by the end of 2025, with public consultation happening in early 2026.
Growth Management and Housing - Options Paper endorsed
Council has officially endorsed the Growth Management and Housing Options Paper, a key document which will set the direction for managing housing and employment growth until 2041.
The Options Paper was developed following extensive consultation with residents in early 2024, which heard from more than 1,200 people across four information sessions, nine drop-in opportunities and two online sessions across the Shire.
This feedback helped to inform the final version, which was endorsed at the April 2025 Council meeting. In this version, many of the initially identified sites were either removed from consideration or refined in scope.
Summary of the growth strategy for the Tweed for the next 20 years:
- Support existing Greenfield development sites and continue to work with current developers to bring these sites to market.
- Review planning controls for Tweed Heads to ensure building heights and densities align with its role as Tweed’s Regional City.
- Explore additional urban infill opportunities to increase employment and housing opportunities within proximity of the Banora Point business zones and along part of Minjungbal Drive.
- Review opportunities for additional low-rise housing diversity in locations with good access to shops, services and public transport.
- Review opportunities for additional housing diversity across Land and Housing Corporation lands within proximity to Tweed Valley Hospital.
- Review opportunities for additional rural housing flexibility including rural workers dwellings, secondary dwellings (granny flats) on land greater than 10ha and detached dual occupancy on land greater than 40ha.
- Review the “dwelling entitlement” process to enable rural allotments subject to certain land criteria, to lodge a development application for a dwelling to be assessed on merit.
- Bring forward employment land opportunities at several key strategically located sites.
Council will now begin drafting the Growth Management and Housing Strategy which will be exhibited for community feedback in 2025.
- View the Council report (including resolution) on the final Growth Management and Housing Options Paper
- View the Council resolution on the Growth Management and Housing Options Paper
Options Paper and strategy differences
While the Options Paper and strategy are linked, the purpose of each document differs:
The Options Paper:
- Provides a range of opportunities to be refined or culled prior to transfer to the next stage of the project.
- Establishes the framework upon which the strategy will be built in the next stage of the project.
- Identifies matters to be further investigated in the next stage (strategy stage).
The draft strategy will:
- Clearly establish the 20 year growth outlook, needs, challenges and vision framework for the Tweed.
- Provide more detail in relation to constraints and development opportunities across the endorsed change options.
- Provide a strategic planning delivery program for implementing the final recommendations.
- Match an infrastructure and service delivery timeframe against each of the endorsed options.
- Enable advocacy with all levels of government and industry to overcome impediments.
- Be presented for exhibition late-2025.
Project update November 2024
Thank you Tweed for having your say!
After extensive consultation with Tweed residents in March and April 2024, Council heard from more than 1,200 people.
Themes that dominated community response included flooding, preservation of amenity and character, exploring opportunities for rural village expansion and rural housing, as well as concern expressed about growth implications associated with traffic and parking.
Once adopted by Council, the final Options Paper will form the basis for the Draft Strategy which will be exhibited for community feedback in 2025.
Breakdown of engagement:
Project overview
The Tweed is growing and changing. To achieve greater housing choice and diversity, we need to identify where new housing and potential employment land might be located in the future.
This type of planning is critical to the way the Tweed region develops over the next 20 years, and how it will look, feel and function.
We are developing the Tweed’s plan to manage housing and employment growth: the draft Options Paper is the next step in the process.
During this stage we are asking for community input so that we can make sure the project is on the right track.
This project was open for feedback until 4pm, Friday 22 March 2024.
What we asked the community
We want you to have your say on a range of suggested options that might help accommodate our growing population and workforce until 2041. About the options:
- These options propose ways we can increase the supply of additional housing and employment land across the Tweed.
- Some options relate to specific locations while some relate to the whole of the Tweed.
- The proposed options, or changes, will be incremental and may (or may not) take place over time. It is important to note that not everybody will be impacted and not all changes will be taken up overnight or over the intended 20-year period.
Feedback is being sought on any likes, dislikes, or suggestions to how changes within the draft Options Paper might be improved - this includes changes that may not have been considered.
What is included in the Draft Options Paper?
The draft Options Paper sets out a range of changes that have the potential to support the Tweed in the future in how it can meet key growth challenges in a sustainable way through to 2041.
The draft Options paper includes:
- 10 key considerations for planned growth. These considerations, developed with community feedback, have directly informed the preparation of the changes detailed in the draft Options Paper.
- 83 proposed changes. While the main focus of these changes is increasing housing density in areas already populated, a range of growth opportunities have also been proposed in the rural areas and greenfield areas of the Tweed.
- Potential housing supply options - potential areas identified to accommodate future housing supply include: Tweed Heads, Tweed Heads South, Banora Point, Kingscliff, Pottsville, Murwillumbah, Burringbar and Uki.
- Future employment opportunities - areas identified to accommodate future employment growth include: Central Tweed, Cobaki - Terranora, Eastern Hinterland, Murwillumbah, Rural West, Tweed Mid Coast, Tweed South Coast.