What the draft proposes

The Tanks Road precinct is the block of rural-residential land on the eastern outskirts of Parkes bounded by Renshaw McGirr Way, Henry Parkes Way and Tanks Road. The draft describes it as small rural holdings with houses, sheds and paddocks used for grazing and fodder crops, and says The area is under fragmented ownership, with around 15 landowners in the precinct. It is zoned R5 Large Lot Residential and, by the draft's account, is controlled by a 4 hectare minimum subdivision lot size.

The draft redraws it as a suburb. The council's report to its 15 September meeting says The Masterplan and Servicing Strategy provides for approximately 520 residential lots, a mix of small, standard and low-density types. Around them it maps connector roads with connections to Renshaw McGirr Way, Henry Parkes Way and Tanks Road, bus stops, a 2.6-hectare park beside a neighbourhood centre (the draft suggests small shops, a gym or a childcare centre), a smaller 0.9-hectare park on a rise, and drainage corridors kept as environmental management land.

  1. Lots at a 4-hectare minimum on 125 hectares, at most (our arithmetic)31

  2. Lots the council says the draft provides for, approximately520

One square per lot, both rows to the same scale. The 520 is the council's figure (business paper, 15 September 2026, item 18.4, page 369). The 31 is our arithmetic: the draft's approximate 125 hectares divided by its 4-hectare minimum lot size, before any land for roads and ignoring how the precinct is divided now. It is a ceiling, not a count of lots that exist.

What the lots would look like is set out as a menu rather than a count. The draft's design chapter lists typologies it says may suit the precinct, ranging from duplex lots of up to 1,000 square metres to laneway terrace lots of 180 to 225. Its lot typology map puts small lots beside the centre, the parks and the main streets, standard lots as the predominant type, low-density lots around the edges and large lots in the east. It does not say how many of the 520 fall into each type.

4 hectares 200 m by 200 m 800 650 250 square metres
Drawn to one scale: the 4-hectare minimum lot size the draft says applies now (40,000 square metres), against the average lot sizes the draft gives for three of its typologies: larger lots (800 square metres), smaller lots (650) and cottage housing (250). From the draft's sections 2.4, 4.2 and 5.6 (pages 12, 29, 39 and 40). By area, about 61 lots of 650 square metres would fit in one 4-hectare block, before roads (our arithmetic).

The draft also places the precinct in the town's wider story. Its executive summary says about 3,000 new workers are predicted to be employed in the future at the Parkes Special Activation Precinct, citing the Central West and Orana Regional Plan 2041, and it lists housing as the biggest single cost of living pressure in Parkes.

What it does not do, and who pays

The council is careful about what the document is. Its exhibition page says the masterplan is a strategic planning document and It does not itself rezone land, change the zoning of individual properties or create development rights. Rezoning and new minimum lot sizes are the draft's first listed action, an amendment to the Parkes Local Environmental Plan 2012 by the council and the state planning department, marked short-term. The council's page says any such change would need separate statutory planning processes.

Nor does it fund anything. The financial implications section of the officer report says: The Masterplan and Servicing Strategy is a strategic planning document and does not commit Council to future capital expenditure. It says future infrastructure will be considered through the council's delivery program, developer contributions plans, grants and budgets.

The draft does
Map about 520 lots, the road network, two parks (2.6 and 0.9 hectares), a neighbourhood centre, drainage corridors with detention basins, and sewer and water main layouts; list actions for the council and agencies
It does not
Rezone land or change minimum lot sizes; approve any subdivision; set a date for development to start; require any owner to develop or sell; commit the council to future capital expenditure
Left to do
Amend the LEP to rezone the land (short-term); Continue to investigate the design, costing, resourcing and augmentation of sewerage systems to service the Tanks Road Precinct. (medium-term), and the same for water; review the council's contributions framework, including new section 7.11 or 7.12 plans (medium-term)
From the draft's chapter 6 and its planning priorities and actions (actions 1.1, 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9, pages 56 and 61), the council's exhibition page and frequently asked questions, and the officer report of 15 September 2026 (item 18.4, page 369). Timeframes are the draft's own labels; it does not define them in years.

On capacity the draft is reassuring in general terms. It says the Akuna Road sewage treatment plant was built in 2018 for 15,000 EP (equivalent population) and can be upgraded to 20,000 EP, and that There is generally adequate capacity in the sewerage system at Parkes to meet the projected housing yields at the Tanks Road Precinct. It says there is generally adequate supply planned for water to be extended to the precinct. What it does not contain is a price. The only dollar figure in the 61-page document is the shire's average weekly income.

Will it flood?

This is the question East Parkes will ask first. The draft itself records that In November 2022, significant flooding of the Goobang Creek occurred, with floodwaters rising to unprecedented levels, resulting in hundreds of homes being inundated in the East Parkes area. Its answer for this precinct is in its environmental analysis:

The Tanks Road Precinct is not bushfire prone land or affected by flooding of the Goobang Creek. Flash flooding along stormwater drainage corridors is the primary environmental hazard applying to land in and around Tanks Road.

Draft Tanks Road Masterplan and Servicing Strategy, section 4.3, page 30.

Its response to that hazard is the drainage design: four stormwater catchments, corridors left as environmental management land, and a network of shallow detention basins to release runoff towards Goobang Creek under controlled conditions. The draft says the precinct also has to accommodate upstream stormwater from the upper areas of north-east Parkes.

Two documents sit beside it. The council's 2025 housing strategy update records the flood's effect on earlier growth plans: Approximately 75ha of land that was previously identified for future urban expansion in Nash Street, Tanks Road and south of Henry Parkes Way was heavily impacted by the flooding of the Goobang Creek in 2022. Its text does not say how much of that land, if any, lies inside the precinct as the draft now draws it. And the draft's own account of the flood study is behind the council's. It says Parkes Shire Council is developing the East Parkes Flood Study to gain a better understanding of the flood behaviour of the Goobang Creek. The council's flood page says that study is done: The Parkes East Flood Study was adopted by Parkes Shire Council on 16 June 2026 as an interim runoff study to support the progression of the Parkes East Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan. The flood study's own assessment of future development was built on the 2025 housing strategy and the 2023 Middleton masterplan, not on this draft.

  1. November 2022Goobang Creek floods; the draft says hundreds of homes were inundated in East Parkes.
  2. 15 September to 13 October 2025The Parkes East Flood Study is on public exhibition.
  3. 16 June 2026The council adopts the Parkes East Flood Study as an interim runoff study.
  4. 21 September 2026Version date of the exhibited draft masterplan, which still describes the flood study as being developed and lists completing “the Parkes East Flood Study and Plan” as a short-term action.
  5. No date givenThe Parkes East Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan, the next stage.
Dates from the draft masterplan (section 2.9, page 17, and its document footer), the Parkes East Flood Study (version 2, 29 June 2026, executive summary) and the council's Flood Studies and Reports page, read 10 October 2026.

The airport, about five kilometres east of the town centre, is the other neighbour. The draft reports an acoustic assessment that demonstrates the growth area is suitable for residential use, without need for building shell acoustic treatments to address aircraft and / or road traffic noise. As at 10 October the assessment itself was not among the documents on the exhibition page.

How it sits against Parkes's housing numbers

The draft's case rests on a demand table. Starting from the 2021 population of the town of Parkes, its high-growth scenario, taken from the council's 2020 local strategic planning statement, needs 2,433 more dwellings; the draft's text ties its growth scenarios to 2041. A second, highest-growth scenario from the project brief, which the draft's text describes as a potential doubling of the local population, needs 8,802.

Parkes dwelling demand, as the draft states it (Table 1, page 26)
MeasureCurrentHigh growthHighest growth
Total population11,16217,00030,000
Additional dwellingsn/a2,4338,802
Annual dwelling demandn/a152550
About 520 lots as a share of additional dwellings (our arithmetic)n/a21%6%

Current population is the 2021 Census figure for the town of Parkes, as the draft's profile page gives it; the high-growth figure is from the Parkes Local Strategic Planning Statement 2020 and the highest from the East Parkes project brief, as the draft footnotes them. The last row assumes one dwelling per lot, which the draft's duplex and corner lots would exceed.

On the high-growth numbers, about 520 lots is roughly three and a half years of the table's annual demand (our arithmetic). Tanks Road is one of two East Parkes precincts in the same grant-funded project: a separate masterplan is being prepared for Harrowvale. The council secured $185,799 from the NSW Government's Regional Housing Strategic Planning Fund, round 3, for the pair.

How to have your say, and what happens next

Submissions go through the online form on the council's exhibition page, which carries the full draft (a 75 MB PDF), by email to council@parkes.nsw.gov.au, or by post to The General Manager, Parkes Shire Council, PO Box 337, Parkes NSW 2870. Landowners can ask for a meeting during the exhibition. The council asks submitters to say whether they support the plan and to explain any alternative they propose.

Mind the closing time. The council's consultation listing says Submissions closing on 30 October 2026, 12:00 AM; its media release says Submissions close 5pm Friday 30 October 2026. Lodging by Thursday 29 October meets both.

  1. November 2025Early engagement begins, including one-on-one meetings with Tanks Road landowners.
  2. 15 September 2026Council endorses the draft for exhibition for at least 28 days (resolution OCM 278/26).
  3. 28 September 2026Exhibition opens.
  4. 30 October 2026Submissions close: 12:00 AM on the council's listing, 5pm on its media release.
  5. No date givenSubmissions reported to council, which then considers adopting the final masterplan.
  6. No date givenA separate amendment to the Parkes LEP 2012 to rezone the land and change minimum lot sizes.
Dates from the officer report and minutes of 15 September 2026 (item 18.4), the council's exhibition page and its media release on the exhibition, with the rezoning step from the draft's action 1.1 (page 56).

The mayor, Cr Neil Westcott, said in the council's release: We want people to look at the draft Masterplan, consider what is being proposed and tell us what they think. We will report what the post-exhibition report to council says about the submissions.

Our view

Labelled as opinion. Masterplanning a precinct held by around 15 owners before anyone lodges a subdivision is the right order of work: it is how roads join up and drainage corridors stay open, and Parkes has the 2022 flood as its reason to care about the second. On flooding the draft gives a clear answer for this land, outside the Goobang Creek flood area, though its own description of the flood study is out of date by three months and the floodplain risk management plan is still to come. The weaker part is money. A servicing strategy that maps trunk sewer mains, water mains and detention basins but prices none of them leaves residents unable to judge the trade the council will eventually be asked to make: who pays for the pipes, through which contributions plan, and how much of it lands on rates. A useful submission before 30 October would ask the council to put an order-of-cost estimate and a contributions approach in front of the community before the rezoning step, not after it.

How we sourced this

We read the 61-page exhibited Draft Tanks Road Masterplan and Servicing Strategy 2026 (prepared for Parkes Shire Council by Currajong and King + Campbell; document set 2307771, version 2, dated 21 September 2026), downloaded from the council's exhibition page, with particular attention to sections 1, 2.4, 2.9, 2.12 to 2.14, 3.3, 4.2 to 4.5, 5.6 and 6, and all of chapter 7. Page numbers are the PDF's, which match the document's own. We read the officer report and the minutes for item 18.4 of the council's 15 September 2026 ordinary meeting, the exhibition page and its frequently asked questions, the council's media release on the exhibition, section 12.4.5 of the Parkes Shire Housing Strategy 2025 Update, the council's Flood Studies and Reports page, and the executive summary and sections 2.7 and 6.3.11 of the Parkes East Flood Study (version 2, 29 June 2026). The 520 figure is the council's; the draft itself labels lots on its maps but states no total in its text. We kept copies of every document.

Our arithmetic. 125 ÷ 4 = 31.25, so at most 31 lots at the 4-hectare minimum, before roads. 40,000 ÷ 650 = 61.5. 520 ÷ 2,433 = 21.4 per cent; 520 ÷ 8,802 = 5.9 per cent; 520 ÷ 152 = 3.4 years. 2.6 + 0.9 = 3.5 hectares of proposed parks. Lot squares in the scale drawing have sides of 28.3, 25.5 and 15.8 metres against 200 metres for 4 hectares. One check on the draft's Table 1 does not reconcile: 17,000 less 11,162 is 5,838, but the table gives additional population as 5,744 under the high-growth scenario (its 2,433 dwellings follow from 5,744 at 2.36 people per dwelling). We have used the table's published dwelling figures. 28 September to 30 October is 32 days; the council's page calls it a 28-day exhibition, the minimum its resolution set.

What we have not done. We have not asked the council or the consultants about the draft, read the 2023 Middleton masterplan, the acoustic assessment or the flood study's maps, or checked the precinct boundary against the 2022 flood extent on any map. The statements that the precinct is outside the Goobang Creek flood area and that the 4-hectare minimum applies are the draft's. We have not read the Parkes Local Environmental Plan 2012 lot size map itself.

Sources

  1. Currajong and King + Campbell for Parkes Shire Council, Draft Tanks Road Masterplan and Servicing Strategy 2026 (PDF, 61 pages, version 2, 21 September 2026, read 10 October 2026): executive summary; sections 1.1, 1.5 to 1.7, 2.4, 2.9, 2.12 to 2.14, 3.3, 4.2 to 4.5, 5.6, 6.3 to 6.10; Table 1; planning priorities 1 to 6 and their actions.
  2. Parkes Shire Council, Public Exhibition: Draft Tanks Road Masterplan and Servicing Strategy (web page with frequently asked questions, read 10 October 2026): exhibition dates, closing time, the $185,799 grant, the approximately 520 lots, how to make a submission, and what the masterplan does not do.
  3. Parkes Shire Council, Media release: Community invited to have their say on draft Tanks Road Masterplan (PDF, 2 pages, file dated 1 October 2026, read 10 October 2026): the 5pm closing time and the mayor's quotation.
  4. Parkes Shire Council, Ordinary Council Meeting agenda, 15 September 2026 (PDF, read 10 October 2026): item 18.4, Draft Tanks Road Masterplan and Servicing Strategy, report by the Director Planning and Community Services, pages 368 to 369.
  5. Parkes Shire Council, Ordinary Council Meeting minutes, 15 September 2026 (PDF, read 10 October 2026): item 18.4, resolution OCM 278/26, page 22.
  6. Parkes Shire Council, Parkes Shire Housing Strategy 2021-2041, 2025 Update (PDF, 78 pages, read 10 October 2026): section 12.4.5, Parkes Urban Area Staging Framework, page 70.
  7. Parkes Shire Council, Flood Studies and Reports (web page, read 10 October 2026), and the Parkes East Flood Study final report it links (PDF, version 2, 29 June 2026, read 10 October 2026): the 16 June 2026 adoption, the 2025 exhibition dates, and sections 2.7 and 6.3.11.

Own land at Tanks Road, live nearby, or read the draft differently? Tell us and we will check it against the documents and log the outcome here.