Parkes Shire Council has recently purchased the 330-hectare property Harrowvale, to commence designing a future residential suburb. We anticipate the land purchase will be funded by future industrial land sales and will not be activated until existing residential land is significantly taken-up.
Harrowvale is situated on the eastern edge of Parkes, between Henry Parkes Way (Orange Road), Military Road and Cookamidgera Road. It has quality arable soil, slopes gently from east to west and is predominantly above major flooding levels. The location of Parkes on the national transport network is an unassailable fact and has driven the NSW Government investment in the Parkes Special Activation Precinct (SAP). It is forecast that the SAP has the potential to create up to 3,000 jobs across a range of industries over the next 30 years, particularly, Freight and Logistics, Warehousing, Value-add agriculture, Plant based meat substitutes, Innovative Grains, Cold-Chain Logistics, Resource recovery and recycling, E-Waste Recycling, Plastics Recycling, Renewable energy, Critical minerals and Data Centres.
The State Government is progressing industrial development in the SAP and has a potential of over a billion dollars of investment over the next five years in leading edge energy and recycling technology, right on the edge of Parkes. It is important to ensure there is suitable land to meet the needs of our existing community, looking for their first home, seeking to upsize or moving to downsize existing homes.
By Cr Neil Westcott
Mayor of Parkes Shire