Forbes’ tight rental market could soon be eased after council have adopted a plan to develop a large block of land into a residential area.
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The area, a previous travelling stock route between Edward and York streets, informally known as Morton Street, will be developed to include 52 housing blocks, ranging in size from 680 sqm to 2000 sqm.
The land, located in north Forbes off Edward Street, would be developed in four stages and it is expected that the first stage would be subdivided within 12 months.
The development is hoped to increase the availability of affordable residential housing and to further stimulate economic activity in Forbes through the construction of new homes.
Mayor Phyllis Miller said Morton Street has been earmarked for development for some time to help address the low housing and rental stock.
“It most definitely is [a priority], there’s no point creating jobs without having somewhere for those people to live,” she said.
Cr Miller said after consulting with the community in the Morton Street area the local environmental plan for the area was adopted in 2013.
In the original development plan, the design was to have 25 much larger lots.
However after receiving feedback from potential developers and real estate agents, council identified that the current market is in demand for smaller block sizes.
In response to this feedback, council design officers reviewed the lot layout design and found that it was feasible to reduce the size of the blocks while creating more blocks for sale.
This amended development plan was adopted at council’s April meeting on Thursday.
A further amendment was moved by deputy mayor Graeme Miller who successfully requested that the blocks on stage two be made slightly larger by developing 14 blocks instead of 16.
While costs for the development have yet to be finalised, council will seek to develop on a cost recovery basis.
