Adoption of Delivering Newcastle 2040 (2025-26)

On 17 June 2025, Council unanimously voted to adopt the 2025/2026 Delivering Newcastle 2040, the 2025/2026 Fees and Charges Register, Resourcing Newcastle 2040 and make the Rates and Charges for the period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.

Working together to achieve a thriving Newcastle

We want you to be involved in how we plan for our future. Delivering Newcastle 2040 is how we turn our shared vision for a liveable, sustainable, inclusive global city into action. We've identified short, medium and long-term strategies to make this a reality.

In 2025-26, we plan to invest more than $430 million in our city, and spend $154.5 million on infrastructure to deliver essential projects for our community. We're investing in making Newcastle a thriving place to live, work and play for generations to come.

We'll continue to provide more than 60 services to our community, delivering more than 340 projects and 170 actions to make improvements across the city.

In 2025-26:

We invited you to have your say on:

  • Our Delivery Program (four year plan that outlines strategies to help bring us closer to achieving our shared long-term vision)
  • Our Operational Plan (our draft budget and list of projects and actions for the next financial year)
  • Fees and Charges (outlines fees for all user-pay services)
  • Our Long Term Financial Plan (ten-year plan that demonstrates how our objectives and commitments will be resourced and funded).

These documents outline how we will invest in our city, deliver key services and infrastructure, and plan for long-term growth.

Key Highlights:

In 2025-26, we will continue to deliver initiatives from our informing and supporting strategies such as the Environment Strategy, Cycling and Parking Plan, Climate Action Plan, Social Strategy, and Sustainable Waste Strategy.

This year, we will deliver:

  • $42.2 million on road renewal and road upgrades, including the western corridor road widening at Minmi Road and Longworth Avenue
  • $20.6 million on recreation, aquatics, and sports improvements, including the Foreshore Park playspace
  • $11.9 million on coastal, city, and urban centres including the East End Hunter Street Mall and Georgetown local centre
  • $9.4 million on waste management and Summerhill Waste Management Centre
  • $7.1 million on street and park trees, bushland and watercourses, and Blackbutt Reserve
  • $6 million on bridge renewal and upgrades including Boscawen Street, Wallsend
  • $5.5 million on footpath and pedestrian projects
  • $5.4 million on cultural facilities including Art Gallery, Libraries, Museum, Fort Scratchley and our Civic venues
  • $5.3 million on city-wide stormwater upgrades, flood planning and management works including Cooks Hill
  • $5.1 million on coastal management including Stockton coastline protection work, estuary, and wetlands
  • $4.4 million on an affordable housing project at Rail Bridge Row
  • $4.1 million on cycleway projects and another $1.9 million on cycleways as part of larger projects
  • $3.5 million to upgrade the State Emergency Services building at Mayfield West
  • $1.5 million on climate action and sustainability initiatives
  • $0.9 million to progress the design for a reimagined western building at Queens Wharf.

Ongoing programs and projects that will extend throughout 2025-2029 include:

  • Local Centres public domain program
  • Coastal revitalisation program
  • Upgrade, expansion and connection of footpaths and shared pathways
  • Road rehabilitation and renewal
  • Broadmeadow Place Strategy
  • Stockton coastal works and coastline protection works
  • Community building refurbishment and renewal.

Thanks for having your say!

Thanks for having your say on how we invest in our city, deliver services and infrastructure and plan for long-term growth.

The draft Delivering Newcastle 2040 (our Operational Plan and Delivery Program), Fees and Charges, and Long-Term Financial Plan documents were on public exhibition from 1 May to 29 May 2025.

All feedback received was reviewed and considered. A summary of your feedback and the final documents were reported to Council for adoption on 17 June 2025.

Read the Engagement Report to find out what we heard.

Protecting your privacy

The City of Newcastle is committed to protecting your privacy. We take reasonable steps to comply with relevant legislation and Council policy.

Purpose of collecting personal details: Council is collecting this information to determine the local community’s views and opinions on the documents outlined.

Intended recipients: Information provided as part of the consultation will be used as part of the investigation into the document, and may be included in future reports on the issue.

Storage and security: Information provided will be stored on Council's database and will be subject to Council’s information and privacy policies.

Access: Individuals can access data to check accuracy by contacting Council.