Narrabri Shire growth figures incorrect claims chamber

NSW Planning’s growth projections for Narrabri Shire are inaccurate and potentially damaging to the shire community, Narrabri Chamber of Commerce has claimed.

The projections published on the NSW Planning portal predict a decline in the Narrabri Shire population over the next 20 years.

The figures predict a fall in Narrabri’s population and a rise of 4000 in Moree.

“The chamber absolutely rejects the figures which purport to show the future trajectory of Narrabri Shire,” said chamber president Russell Stewart.

“The incorrect figures are damaging to the whole shire community.

“It has implications for the future support and provision of our medical services, development of schools and education facilities, police and ambulance staffing levels and infrastructure planning because governments and private investors look at these official planning portal figures to help inform their decisions on where they will spend money.

“The picture the figures present flies in the face of the development underway in this shire and the repeated predictions made by federal and state ministers that the population of Narrabri is set to double.

“The whole story in recent years has been one of progress. Look at the major developments in this shire, the fantastic agriculture and energy mix, the Inland Rail project, the nomination of Narrabri Shire as one of just a handful of growth areas in regional NSW.”

The chamber wants the growth figures urgently brought up to date.

“Where did the negative figures come from?” said Mr Stewart.

“If you’re a government body planning for future populations, or a business or private investor looking at where to spend money somewhere and see those figures, they will tell you there’s no future.

“The reality for Narrabri Shire is demonstrably the opposite – the shire is undergoing growth now with new businesses starting and more planned and has clearly identified prospects for huge development.

“The chamber has written to the Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts insisting that the projected growth figures for the shire be re-visited and corrected as a matter of urgency,” Mr Stewart said.

“Narrabri and District Chamber of Commerce members were more than distressed to read on the NSW Planning portal the completely out of touch and inaccurate population predictions for Narrabri Shire 2021 to 2041 – the figures show a decline of 917,” the chamber wrote to the minister.

“These figures fly in the face of your government’s own public predictions while visiting Narrabri and in all forms of media.

“These politicians have only been outnumbered by the CEOs of Inland Rail, energy, agriculture and various other industries already committing to and developing multimillion-dollar operations requiring extra thousands of quality workers and huge investment in Narrabri.

“Your government has recently approved the Narrabri gas project and the Whitehaven Coal extension to take us out to 2040.

“Your government has declared Narrabri a Special Activation Precinct with a promise of extremely large sums of money from state and federal governments to be invested here on future development while attracting thousands of extra workers. The real estate market has already responded with rising prices and strong demand.

“Unfortunately, with the type of false and misleading information on the Planning NSW portal, many quality investors would be very reluctant to commit if that is their primary source of future growth predictions,” the chamber’s letter said.

“Every day this questionable information remains on your portal, there is a very real danger of opportunity lost.”