First drafted in 2011, the Newcastle Development Control Plan (DCP) 2012 contains provision for five urban renewal corridors. Development in these corridors has been slow to respond to the updated controls, with the renewal corridor DCP controls causing issues with development assessment, conflict with SEPP 65 and general readability issues. As part of the wider DCP update, the City of Newcastle were looking for recommendations to address any identified concerns and ensure the intended outcomes and good design is achievable. Following these recommendations, it was expected that a consolidated DCP chapter would be drafted, addressing actions from the Local Strategic Planning Statement and Local Housing Strategy. Mecone worked with urban designers LFA and land economists Atlas to provide consolidated advice to Council with respect to this review. Mecone’s scope of works included:

• Analysis and review of the current DCP chapters.
• Corridor opportunities and constraints analysis
• Review of site specific provisions and recent development applications
• Development of recommendations to update the corridor DCPs
• Preparation of new consolidated Renewal Corridors DCP chapter, restructuring the DCP to improve readability and development assessment
• Production of revised maps and diagrams for the DCP.