The Local Streets Plan was adopted by Council on 16 June 2026.
Project background
Local streets are where community happens. They are the connectors and enablers of our daily lives.
Making up 75% of Newcastle's road network, local streets provide access to homes and local destinations. They are some of our most significant public spaces, determining how easily we move through our communities, how we connect with neighbours and the health of our local environment.
Many of our local streets have historically been shaped around car movement, but community expectations have changed. People now expect safer, more comfortable places to walk or ride, more shade and streets that help build a sense of community.
The draft Local Streets Plan set out a 10-year vision to create safer, greener, more welcoming and accessible local streets across Newcastle.
Bringing together state, national and global best practice and applying it to the Newcastle context, the draft Plan aimed to provide a clearer, more consistent approach to identifying and delivering local street improvements. It was created to help to ensure that asset renewal, safety, greening and community needs are considered together.
Thanks for having your say!
Your feedback helps us create better local streets for Newcastle.
Between 10 February and 24 March 2026, the community was invited share feedback on our draft Local Streets Plan.
We received 41 submissions.
To find out what we heard, view the Engagement Summary Report.
Key themes from what we heard included:
What changed?
We made a number of updates as a result of community feedback. These included:
- Adding the Street Tree Selection Manual into the complimentary tools and approaches, to clarify how this process relates to local street planning
- Further references to the impact of the urban heat island effect
- Referencing how the Australian Government Black Spot Program is considered when planning for our streets
- Providing a summary of the document for ease of access.
What's next?
The next steps involve building key tools and systems to ensure our local streets can be consistently evaluated. These include:
- Mapping tools with geospatial layers
- A toolbox with treatment options and considerations
- Spreadsheets to evaluate neighbourhood priority.
