Bowral South New Living Area – Community Update
Wingecarribee Shire Council is engaging upfront with early community consultation commencing around the vision for the Bowral South New Living Area (NLA).
The Bowral South NLA is located between Eridge Park Road and Kangaloon Road and bound by the Wingecarribee River and Bong Bong racecourse.
Council is committed to making provisions for a diversity of housing that caters to the needs of our community at different stages of life. The housing shortage across the State and across our rural Shire requires careful long-term strategic planning, well-considered design and community consensus for moving forward.
Bowral South NLA was strategically identified in the adopted Local Housing Strategy, and it is now time to implement that strategy by preparing a Master Plan and Servicing Strategy for infrastructure.
What is happening now?
Council is currently working with design and engineering consultants to understand the opportunities and constraints of the site. Technical due diligence investigations and a commercial analysis will advise where a small village centre, open spaces and new homes can be best sited together.
Council’s Strategic Outcomes team is also preparing for consultation opportunities this year.
“Town planning is an art and a science” says Council’s Executive Manager Strategic Outcomes, Deniz Kilic.
“We’re working hard to fully understand the Bowral South NLA before determining how to best celebrate those characteristics to accommodate our Southern Highlanders” says Kilic.
“We have a chance to create a small village centre to serve Bowral South, East Bowral and Burradoo residents, taking the congestion pressures off the Bowral Town Centre. Bowral South NLA also offers an opportunity to open the riverfront for public open space and define the town form at the river to halt town sprawl in the long-term,” he added.
What could the vision be?
The aim of the Master Plan is to set the vision for what Bowral South NLA could become, with a variety of new dwellings, a village centre, new public parks and local amenities to meet the needs of the existing and new community.
A Servicing Strategy will identify the necessary infrastructure upgrades as the area develops and a funding mechanism to coordinate the delivery of all infrastructure.
What’s happened so far?
Council conducted an early round of Community Design Workshops in November and December 2023. This was done as an Expressions of Interest process, a best practice early consultation method for upfront brainstorming, ideas and early feedback.
Hop on Participate Wingecarribee, to have a look at these early ideas and feedback from those workshops. The ideas and draft options are a work in progress as the Master Plan takes shape over coming months.
What is yet to come?
Council is working towards broad community consultation in the coming months, to help inform the Masterplan and Servicing Strategy. There will be opportunities for sharing ideas, having discussions providing feedback and submissions through the broader consultation process.
For more information on the project and to keep up to date with upcoming activities and consultations, head to the project page on Participate Wingecarribee: https://participatewingecarribee.wsc.nsw.gov.au/bowral-south