Two years of listening, testing and co-design have led to this: a practical plan for how NSW’s Uralla Shire can manage large-scale renewable energy development on its own terms – protecting what the community values while sharing the benefits of the transition fairly.
This is not a plan for or against renewable energy. It’s a plan to make sure development happens with the community, not to the community. Our residents have been clear: Uralla’s character, farmland and way of life must be protected, and any development must deliver lasting value for our Shire.
– Mayor Robert Bell
When regions are faced with large-scale renewable energy developments, local leaders face a choice: drive the change or get swept up in it. Uralla Shire Council chose to lead, successfully applying for transition support from The Next Economy under the Striking a New Deal project*.
That move laid the groundwork for the community-led Renewable Energy Strategic Action Plan, endorsed by Council after a lengthy feedback process with community.
Here we look behind the scenes at how this journey unfolded, what we learned from our experiences working with the Uralla community and what this means for the transition more generally.
Access the Plan | Read Council’s media release
A Shire at the centre of the transition
Uralla Shire sits inside the New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) – one of the areas key to decarbonising Australia’s energy system. Solar, batteries and transmission projects are already shaping the region. With multiple wind projects planned, Uralla will be the centre of construction activity. It is already gearing up to host the largest share of temporary construction workers within the REZ.
Uralla’s location within a REZ brings real opportunity: investment, jobs, training, building lasting infrastructure. But also, real pressure: from housing, water, roads and services, through to the very social fabric of Uralla that locals are proud of.
While Uralla Shire Council can’t make the decision on whether these projects go ahead – that sits with the state and developers –they can, and have, worked with the local community to decide how the Shire prepares, what it asks for, and what ‘good’ looks like in its own patch.
The role of The Next Economy
Together, The Next Economy and Council worked with members of the Uralla community to understand what it takes to proactively shape the roll-out and impacts of the New England REZ, not just respond to them.
The process included interviews, workshops, school sessions and surveys with more than 150 locals between December 2024 and July 2025. Landholders, business owners, young people and community leaders across the Shire were engaged.
When people are involved early, it’s easier to identify concerns, and ensure new development strengthens what the community values.
– Saideh Kent, project lead, The Next Economy
Local insights were brought together with national best practice and expert input to build a plan that is grounded in the local context and priorities, and not a cookie cutter model brought in. The result is a renewable energy strategic action plan that:
- Sets out what good development looks like, in Uralla’s own terms
- Gives Council a clear, evidence-based basis for its conversations with government and industry
- Identifies where the Shire needs to act now to stay ahead of construction pressure, including on housing, water, roads, services and nature
- Points to how renewable energy investment can leave a genuine legacy, not just short-term disruption.
Real-time results
Already, the work has brought real-time results, with Council:
- Identifying potential sites suitable for housing development and seeking community feedback
- Collaborating with other councils and EnergyCo to coordinate infrastructure investment
- Working with Armidale Regional Council to improve water supplies and drought proof townships
- Partnering with the University of Newcastle to set up a recycling hub for solar panels.
From one Council’s experience to a national conversation
There’s no shortage of toolkits, guides and case studies for renewable energy development. What’s often missing is something that pulls it altogether and puts it into practice – a clear, tested picture of what success can look like when a regional community leads its own transition.
Project lead Saideh Kent, is collaborating with colleagues at Uralla Shire Council, to identify the practical, place-based insights for what good renewable development requires – and what makes it possible – to share with other regional councils. Stay tuned.
Why this matters beyond Uralla
The energy transition is one of the biggest drivers of economic change across regional Australia right now. It is more than just the construction of poles and wires, it is a major national investment in a new industry located in regions that have not been part of the system before, and with that comes broader social, economic and environmental considerations and impacts.
Left unmanaged, it can strain the things communities value most and rely on for their livelihoods and way of life. However, if managed well, with community at the centre and positioned as a strategic partner to development, the energy transition can not only move at a scale and pace that is required but can help to build resilient and thriving regions whose economies are working better for local people and their place.
This ground-up, place-based approach to regional economic development and managing local economic change, is underpinned by The Next Economy’s broader work on macro-economic systems change and wellbeing economies – driving an economy that works for people and the planet, not the other way around.
The work in Uralla is a real-world example of that thinking in practice – demonstrating what good development looks like for Uralla Shire, how the community can shape local economic transitions (and the economy), and the imperative for government and industry to get behind them when they do.
*The Next Economy works with government, industry and community across Australia’s regions to shape a transition that strengthens – rather than undermines – local identity, resilience and shared prosperity. Striking a New Deal (SaND) is a national collaboration between The Next Economy, RE-Alliance, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), Projects JSA and host councils including Uralla Shire.
Read earlier stories
Community insights from Uralla
Striking a New Deal for Uralla Shire
Getting a better deal for regions hosting renewables
Read more about what came across during community engagement via Council’s website: A shire-wide conversation: community insights for Uralla Shire’s energy future.