🟡 Best restaurants on the MNC

⏱️ The 95th edition of our newsletter is a six-minute read.

👋 Hi there, it’s Ellie – your Mid North Coaster reporter.

📢 Today’s call out: I’m looking to speak with people across the MNC who have had to rebuild after a flood.

I want to hear about your experience, if you did things differently to prepare for the next flood, whether you considered relocating, and if you were able to insure your home for flood damage.

It’s a real challenge for many people in our patch and I’d like to help share those stories.

Please reply to this email if you’d like to chat. We can start with a phone call ☎️

• And remember, anyone can get in touch any time – to send in a pic, or a story tip, some feedback or to simply say hi, just reply to this email and I’ll be on the other side.

In this edition, I’ll share my top five picks for date night venues on the Mid North Coast. With Valentines Day coming up, I hope it helps this weekend – and beyond.

• We’ll also take a look at what a carbon credit method is, how it could generate revenue if used for the Great Koala National Park, and how the local community could benefit.

• Plus the empty CBD building costing Coffs council $250K a year and how it could make way for 13-storey development.

In case you missed it: Did you see the Kempsey Shire drug raid last week that led to police discovering an alleged makeshift zoo including a croc, cobra and cannabis?

🗞️ Read the article on our website or click below 👇

💵 A carbon credit plan for the Great Koala National Park wins local support in Coffs Harbour

Coffs Harbour Council has publicly backed a carbon credit plan to protect parts of the Great Koala National Park and generate revenue.

There’s just one condition: locals — and local infrastructure — must see the benefits of the money raised.

Quick refresh: The creation of the Great Koala National Park, located between Kempsey and Grafton, is entirely dependent on the installation of a carbon credit project. 

Why’s that? The intention is to protect parts of the park and generate revenue to support conservations and park management.

What it looks like:

• A carbon credit method is an approved set of rules on how to measure, calculate and verify emissions reductions.

• In the case of the GKNP, decisions made to protect native forest that would otherwise be logged would allow the NSW government to generate carbon credits.

• These credits could then be sold to polluters, who can use them to offset their emissions. 

A new method: The state government is proposing to generate funds using a carbon method known as Improved Native Forest Management (INFM). These funds could be used for forest restoration such as pest and fire management.

Local support: During the January Coffs Harbour council meeting, councillors unanimously voted to pass a motion that noted their support of the INFM method.

• Councillors also ask that council lodge a submission to ERAC advocating the carbon credit method ensures revenue generated is reinvested back into the affected LGAs through environmental management including bushfire hazard reduction, regional tourism and employment.

Potential revenue: Wilson Harris, from the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, said there is a potential to generate $250 million of additional revenue from the establishment of the GKNP over 15 years.

• Harris also said 370 new jobs could be created to manage this carbon project as well as the forest.

“This additional investment in our forests is critically important to help make our native forests more resilient to fire as we encounter hotter and more dangerous weather,” Harris said.

Boost to tourism: Harris said businesses across the Mid North Coast could build off the back of the GKNP, once it’s formally established.

“Two hundred local businesses signed onto two separate letters last year, calling on the park to be reserved,” Harris told the Mid North Coaster. 

• “Coffs Harbour Council is actually one of the only councils in New South Wales to be certified as an eco destination, which is awarded by Ecotourism Australia. So to build upon its image as this ecotourism hotspot and allow these businesses that are based on people coming into their area due to its natural beauty, and its connection to nature, will be a massive benefit for the community and region”. 

Next steps: The method is currently going through an extensive assessment process and a decision.

• Following a consultation process with the Emissions Reductions Assurance Committee (ERAC) in January, the NSW Government will address feedback before ERAC makes a final assessment on whether or not the INFM method meets integrity standards. 

• ERAC will advise the Assistant Climate Change Minister whether to approve it or not.

🏛️ Empty CBD building costing Coffs council $250K a year could make way for 13-storey development

The old City of Coffs Harbour administration building has been sitting empty in the CBD since 2023 and costs the council more than $250,000 a year to maintain.

But 2026 looks to be the year the council says “no more”, with the building up for sale with permission for the site to become a new block of as many as 13 storeys.

❓What happened: Councillors gave the go ahead for the City of Coffs Harbour to put 2 Castle Street on the market during the January meeting.

• Nine different options of what to do with the Castle Street property were presented, including renovations, leasing, and repurposing into a community hub. 

• “Putting the site – which includes 45 underground car parks – on the open market for sale was found to be the preferred option as it is financially sustainable,” City Business Services Director Steve Bayliss said.

• Bayliss said the council had fielded several inquiries in the past 18 months about a potential sale of the property. 

💵 Cost to council: Built in 1983, the Castle Street building was occupied by the council from 1985. 

• In 2023, staff moved to Yarrila Place on Gordon Street.

The council has continued to maintain the Castle Street building and grounds to ensure it doesn’t deteriorate. 

The annual budget to maintain the building in its current state is $264,000, including electricity, security, landscaping, insurance, and property costs. 

➡️ What next: Councillors voted to authorise the General Manager to place 2 Castle Street on the open market for sale. 

• A further report will be provided to the council seeking approval to proceed once the open market process has been completed. 

The site is zoned as E2 Commercial Core with a complying building height limit of 44-metres – roughly equivalent to 13 storeys.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back on Friday with another newsletter.

In the meantime, make sure you’re following along on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and our website to keep up to date with local news throughout the week.

Talk soon,

Ellie