Tamworth and Armidale could become regional Growth Zones under a new Business NSW plan to tackle the housing, skills, and infrastructure gaps holding back regional economies.
The two cities are among 20 regional NSW cities and centres identified in a new Business NSW paper, Stronger Regional Economies: A New Growth Agenda for Regional NSW. The paper calls on the NSW Government to set up locally led Growth Zones across regional NSW.
“It is really positive to see both Tamworth and Armidale recognised as places with the capacity for further growth,” said Business NSW New England North West Regional Director Stephanie Cameron.
Cameron said their inclusion showed the strong economic potential that already exists in the region.
“Across the New England North West we don’t have a shortage of opportunity,” Cameron said.
“We have strong agriculture and food production, growing manufacturing capability, renewable energy investment, education and research, health, tourism and an increasingly diverse business community.”
Regional NSW is already a $305 billion economy, supporting 1.4 million jobs and 290,000 businesses. But housing constraints, skills shortages, infrastructure backlogs, and stagnant productivity are limiting its ability to grow.
Under the Growth Zone model, business, government, institutions, and local communities would work together to identify what is holding each region back and develop solutions that suit local conditions.
Possible measures include investment in serviced industrial land and enabling infrastructure, housing initiatives, workforce and skills programs, stronger local supply chains, investment attraction, and targeted incentives for businesses that create new economic activity and jobs.
Cameron said local businesses kept raising the same problems.
“What we hear consistently from businesses is that growth can be constrained by the fundamentals: housing, workforce and skills, water, enabling infrastructure, serviced industrial land, energy and planning,” she said.
“A Growth Zone provides an opportunity to bring those issues together rather than addressing them one at a time.”
“If we want businesses to invest and expand, we need to make sure the infrastructure, housing, workforce and services are ready to support that investment.”
These themes closely match Business NSW New England North West’s existing regional priorities. Local business representatives have flagged coordinated investment in transport, freight, water, waste, energy, and serviced land, along with water security, housing, and workforce capability, as key to future growth.
Tamworth already plays an important role as a regional hub for services, employment, freight, health, education, and industry, giving it a strong base for more investment.
Business NSW New England North West has also identified industrial land development in both Tamworth and Armidale as important for business expansion and new investment, alongside opportunities in agriculture, food processing, and manufacturing.
Cameron said the proposal should also start a broader conversation about how regional centres work together.
“For us, the opportunity isn’t only about Tamworth or Armidale individually,” she said.
“It is about how we use our major regional centres as anchors for economic growth that creates opportunities across the wider New England North West.”
“Businesses don’t necessarily operate according to council boundaries. Our workforce, supply chains, freight movements, education, health services and investment opportunities are interconnected across the region.”
She said any Growth Zone would have to be shaped by the region itself.
“That is why any future Growth Zone needs to be genuinely locally led and shaped around what our region needs, rather than becoming another one-size-fits-all program,” Ms Cameron said.
“We have an opportunity to be far more deliberate about the growth we want to see over the next 10 or 20 years and to make sure government investment, private investment and regional priorities are pulling in the same direction.”
That regional approach also lines up with current work on a more practical New England North West regional blueprint, which aims to connect local priorities, shared regional opportunities, and accountability for delivery.
Under the proposal, Growth Zones would be voluntary and overseen by local partnerships of business, councils, institutions, and community organisations.
Business NSW would not pick the first locations. Instead, it recommends an expression of interest process, where regional partnerships could make their case.
Across the 20 locations named in the paper, the population is projected to grow by 345,000 people between 2026 and 2041. That is expected to bring about 155,000 extra full-time jobs and demand for around 140,000 more homes.
Cameron said that growth had to be planned for before it arrived.
“We can’t wait until major investment arrives and then start asking where the workers will live, whether we have enough skilled people, whether the roads and water infrastructure can cope or whether employment land is ready,” she said.
“For the New England North West, this is ultimately about confidence.”
“If we can provide greater certainty around infrastructure, housing, skills and planning, we give businesses much greater confidence to invest, employ and grow here.”
Like what you’re reading? Support New England Times by making a small contribution today and help us keep delivering local news paywall-free. Donate now