Fourteen Mid North Coast consultations open on 5 October, all closing by the 29th
As at 5 October, four of the region’s five councils have fourteen consultations open, closing between 5 and 29 October. The soonest is Port Macquarie-Hastings’ Queens Lake foreshore trail plan, at 5pm on Monday 5 October, then two Coffs Harbour items, the events strategy and the city centre parking paper, on Tuesday 6 October. The rest include the Coffs Harbour dual occupancy planning proposal, the charges developers pay for sewerage, a vision for the old Pacific Highway through Coffs, the Upper Macleay Flood Study and Port Macquarie-Hastings’ policy for 450 kilometres of unsealed roads.
We missed September’s edition of this list; this is October’s. The August edition covered three councils. This one covers all five, because Nambucca Valley and Bellingen turn out to post their consultations on their main websites rather than on a separate platform.
What is open
| Council | What it decides | Closes |
|---|---|---|
| Port Macquarie-Hastings | Queens Lake Foreshore Trail Master Plan The draft plan for the trail: upgraded foreshore pathways, new and replacement furniture, better signage and erosion repairs, keeping it a nature trail. | Mon 5 October, 5pm |
| Coffs Harbour | Coffs Harbour Events Strategy The Draft Events Strategy 2026-2035, the City’s plan for the region’s events calendar over the next decade. | Tue 6 October |
| Coffs Harbour | City Centre Parking: What We’ve Heard and Where to Next A discussion paper on parking in the City Centre, which the City calls the first step towards a Parking Plan; no decisions have been made. | Tue 6 October, 5pm |
| Coffs Harbour | Planning Proposal: Dual Occupancies in Zone R2 Low Density Residential Removing the 800 square metre minimum lot size for two homes on one block, with new design controls added to the development control plan. Our explainer. | Tue 13 October on the platform’s home page; Tue 20 October on the project page |
| Coffs Harbour | Development Servicing Plan for Sewerage Service How sewerage developer charges will be applied to new development to help fund the network needed for growth. | Thu 15 October |
| Coffs Harbour | Road Naming Proposals Names for a new road off Boambee Street (Teddy Terrace or Cliffy Close) and an unnamed laneway off Harbour Drive and Nile Street (Lewthwaite Lane or Honeycomb Lane). | Fri 23 October, 5pm |
| Coffs Harbour | Reserve Naming Proposals A proposal to name the unnamed reserve at Halls Road and Lophostemon Drive, Coffs Harbour, as Olive Walker Reserve. | Fri 23 October |
| Nambucca Valley | Draft Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2027-2031 The practical actions council can take to make its services, facilities, information and employment more accessible to people with disability. | Fri 23 October, 5pm |
| Port Macquarie-Hastings | Draft Community Leasing and Licensing Policy The framework for community groups that lease or licence council property; council describes the changes as minor and administrative. | Sun 25 October, 5pm |
| Coffs Harbour | Draft City Spine Renewal Design Guide A long-term vision, prepared with Transport for NSW, for the former Pacific Highway between Englands Road and Korora Hill. | Mon 26 October |
| Nambucca Valley | Reclassification of Former Road Reserve as Operational Land A proposed resolution to classify a former road reserve at Naylors Lane, Upper Taylors Arm (Lot 10 DP 1313272) as operational land. | Tue 27 October |
| Coffs Harbour | Coffs Harbour DCP 2015 Amendment No. 55 Updating the development control plan’s references to the state’s new Community Participation Plan and to changes in planning legislation. | Wed 28 October |
| Port Macquarie-Hastings | Draft Revised Unsealed Roads Policy The revised policy for the roughly 450 kilometres of unsealed roads council manages. | Thu 29 October, 5pm |
| Kempsey | Upper Macleay Flood Study The technically complete flood study for the Upper Macleay, with council asking for residents’ flood observations and photographs before it goes to council. | Thu 29 October, 11.59pm |
Also open: Port Macquarie-Hastings’ 2026 Community Satisfaction Survey, run every two years with research partner Place Score, closes 28 October. It is not a consultation on a decision, and it fills by quota: once a demographic group has enough responses, no more from that group are accepted.
Which of these actually matters
The dual occupancy proposal is the largest. The City estimates it would make about 5,000 more properties eligible for two homes on one block, which we set out in our explainer. The City’s own pages disagree on the closing date: its Have Your Say home page says 13 October and the project page says 20 October. If you intend to comment, aim for the 13th.
The sewerage servicing plan is the one most likely to pass unnoticed. It sets how sewerage developer charges apply to new development. Charges like these end up in the cost of new homes and subdivisions, and plans of this kind rarely draw submissions from anyone but developers.
The Upper Macleay Flood Study is the one where a resident knows something the consultants do not. Kempsey is asking for observations from previous floods: levels at particular places, roads cut, photographs. The study has not been adopted, and council says publishing it does not by itself change planning controls. Council and its consultants, WMAwater, are presenting it at Willawarrin Community Hall on Friday 16 October, 1pm to 3pm.
The City Spine guide sets the shape of the old highway for a generation. Once the bypass takes the through traffic, the corridor changes role; the City and Transport for NSW are asking what the corridor from Englands Road to Korora Hill should become. Pop-up sessions run in City Square on 13, 14 and 15 October, 9.30am to 2.30pm.
Two items are described by their own councils as housekeeping: Coffs Harbour’s DCP Amendment No. 55 updates references, and Port Macquarie-Hastings calls its leasing policy changes minor and administrative. The naming proposals are choices between names. The unsealed roads policy matters most to the people who live along those roads, and its survey asks each respondent how they use them.
The two councils without a platform
Nambucca Valley and Bellingen do not run a separate engagement platform. Nambucca Valley lists its consultations on an Advertisements and Documents on Exhibition page on its main website, alongside development applications and tenders. Bellingen has a Have Your Say page on its own site. On 5 October 2026 Bellingen’s page listed four items, none of them a consultation on a draft plan, policy or proposal: nominations for its 2027 community awards (closing 2 November), expressions of interest from local businesses and suppliers for the Urunga CBD upgrade, a call for visitor centre volunteers, and an information page on eco destination certification.
Our view, labelled as such. The case for this list is stronger than it was in August. Five councils now publish consultations in five places under three different names, and two of those places sit inside the councils’ main websites. A resident who wants to know what they can still influence has to know all five exist. We will publish this list again in early November.
How we checked this
On 5 October 2026 we read every platform in a browser. Coffs Harbour’s Have Your Say and Kempsey’s Your Say Macleay have returned almost no readable text to an ordinary fetch. Port Macquarie-Hastings’ is server-rendered, but its open-projects block can read as empty before the page loads, so we used a browser there too. Nambucca Valley’s and Bellingen’s main websites refuse a plain fetch. For each platform we read the listing, then opened every open project and took the closing date from the project page itself. On Coffs Harbour we also opened the four other projects its full list marks as published; none was taking submissions.
Where a listing and its project page disagree, we say so. Coffs Harbour’s home page gives the dual occupancy proposal 13 October and the project page 20 October, and gives both naming proposals Wednesday 23 October where the project pages say Friday 23 October, which matches the calendar.
What we have left out. Individual development applications, tenders, committee and volunteer expressions of interest, and award nominations. Anything that closed before 5 October is gone, including Nambucca Valley’s draft Investment Incentive Scheme Policy, which closed on 1 October.
What we have not done. We have not read the underlying documents for these consultations, other than the dual occupancy proposal, so the descriptions are of what each covers, in the council’s own terms, not of what it proposes. Read the document before making a submission. Closing dates are as published and councils sometimes extend them.
Sources
- City of Coffs Harbour, Have Your Say home page (read in a browser, 5 October 2026): the eight projects open for feedback and their listed closing dates.
- City of Coffs Harbour, All Projects (read in a browser, 5 October 2026): the published and archived project list.
- City of Coffs Harbour, Coffs Harbour Events Strategy (5 October 2026): closes Tuesday 6 October 2026.
- City of Coffs Harbour, City Centre Parking discussion paper (5 October 2026): closes 5pm Tuesday 6 October 2026; no decisions made.
- City of Coffs Harbour, Planning Proposal, Dual Occupancies in Zone R2 (5 October 2026): open 14 September, closes Tuesday 20 October.
- City of Coffs Harbour, Development Servicing Plan for Sewerage Service (5 October 2026): closes Thursday 15 October 2026.
- City of Coffs Harbour, Road Naming Proposals (5 October 2026): the two current proposals, closing 5pm Friday 23 October 2026.
- City of Coffs Harbour, Reserve Naming Proposals (5 October 2026): the Olive Walker Reserve proposal, closing 23 October 2026.
- City of Coffs Harbour, Draft City Spine Renewal Design Guide (5 October 2026): the corridor, the pop-up dates, closes Monday 26 October 2026.
- City of Coffs Harbour, Coffs Harbour DCP 2015 Amendment No. 55 (5 October 2026): what it updates, open 30 September, closes 28 October 2026.
- Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, Have Your Say home page (read in a browser, 5 October 2026): the three projects open for comment and the Community Satisfaction Survey closing 28 October.
- Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, Projects (read in a browser, 5 October 2026): the full project list and closing dates.
- Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, Queens Lake Foreshore Trail Master Plan (5 October 2026): submissions close 5pm 5 October 2026.
- Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, Draft Community Leasing and Licensing Policy (5 October 2026): the changes described as minor and administrative; closes 5pm 25 October 2026.
- Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, Draft Revised Unsealed Roads Policy (5 October 2026): around 450 kilometres of unsealed roads; closes 5pm 29 October 2026.
- Place Score for Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, 2026 Community Satisfaction Survey landing page (5 October 2026): conducted every two years, representative quotas.
- Kempsey Shire Council, Your Say Macleay home page (read in a browser, 5 October 2026): the projects open for participation.
- Kempsey Shire Council, Upper Macleay Flood Study (5 October 2026): the feedback sought, the 16 October presentation, closes 11.59pm Thursday 29 October 2026.
- Nambucca Valley Council, Advertisements and Documents on Exhibition (read in a browser, 5 October 2026): the items on exhibition.
- Nambucca Valley Council, Draft Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2027-2031 (5 October 2026): exhibition closes 5pm 23 October.
- Nambucca Valley Council, Reclassification of Former Road Reserve as Operational Land (5 October 2026): on exhibition 29 September to 27 October 2026.
- Bellingen Shire Council, Have Your Say (read in a browser, 5 October 2026): the four items listed.
- Bellingen Shire Council, Bellingen Shire Eco Destination Certification (5 October 2026): an information page with no submission period.
Running a consultation we have missed, or one that has been extended? Tell us and we will check it and update this list.