FAQs

The City of Coffs Harbour has developed a draft Active Transport Plan (Plan) in response to the community’s strong desire to lead healthy and active lives, and to improve walking and bike riding path networks within the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area.

Delivering an integrated network of bike paths and footpaths to that connect our key spaces and encourages active transport is a high priority of the MyCoffs Community Strategic Plan 2035. Active transport includes walking, bike riding, scootering or using other active ways to get around.

The draft Plan also delivers on the highest priority initiative within the Coffs Harbour Movement and Place Strategy 2023, to improve the City’s walking and bike riding networks, guided by detailed priorities over the next 10 years and funding opportunities.

Active transport means using your own energy to get from one place to another – such as walking, bike riding, scootering, or using a mobility device.

In this Plan, active transport also includes electric mobility devices like e-bikes, e-scooters, mobility scooters, and wheelchairs when they’re used for everyday trips.

Examples include:

• Walking or riding to school, work, shops, the beach, or a friend’s house.
• Using a mobility scooter to reach health appointments.
• Riding an e-bike to connect with public transport.

Our walking and cycling networks are growing, but many streets don’t yet have connected or complete active transport links. Continued investment in these networks will make it easier for more people to walk, ride, and move around our city.

We also know from community feedback that walking and cycling are high priorities, but people want their journeys to be safer, more connected, and more comfortable.

This Plan:

• Sets a clear, prioritised roadmap for investment over the next 10 years.
• Ensures active transport links are delivered in line with best-practice safety and accessibility standards.
• Helps the City secure State and Federal grants by ensuring we have “shovel-ready” projects.
• Supports broader City strategies, including the Movement and Place Strategy 2023 and MyCoffs Community Strategic Plan 2035.

The Plan focuses on three priority areas of investment:

1. Active travel to schools

• Safer crossings, footpaths, and connected routes to make it easier for children and their parents to walk or ride.
• Working closely with schools to develop School Safe Access Plans, prioritising those with larger student numbers, safety issues, or high disadvantage.

2. Strategic path program

• Long-distance, continuous connections linking centres, precincts, and destinations like parks, sporting facilities, community facilities, and other key attractions.
• Prioritising off-road shared paths where possible and protected on-road paths in key commuter areas.
• Making use of our LGA's “Green Grid” – creek corridors, reserves, and open space – to provide pleasant, shaded, and safe routes.
• Connecting the northern beaches – the City will investigate complementary works as part of the Bypass Project to extend the path network, e.g. from Charlesworth Bay Road opposite the Big Banana to Park Beach via Diggers Beach.

3. Missing links

• Closing key gaps in pre-existing paths to link up the network, especially along busy roads and key corridors.
• Including crossings, lighting, shade trees, seating, and signage to make trips safer and more comfortable.

The Plan will deliver:

• Health benefits: More opportunities to be active, which in turn helps to reduce rates of heart disease, diabetes, depression, and anxiety.
• Economic benefits: Lower household transport costs and increased foot traffic for local businesses.
• Environmental benefits: Fewer short car trips mean reduced emissions, cleaner air, and less traffic congestion.
• Social benefits: Safer, more inclusive streets and paths where people of all ages and abilities can move independently – and move together.

We know that there is concern on the use of e-micromobility devices such as e-bikes and e-scooters on our path network. A NSW Parliamentary inquiry was undertaken in 2024 which found that there is an urgent need for reform.

The NSW Government is moving forward with a safety-focused framework for the use of shared paths including the introduction of rules and speed limits. The City will take on board any future changes to rules on the use of e-micromobility as part of this inquiry.

A School Safe Access Plan is a collaborative project between the City of Coffs Harbour, schools, parents, and the NSW Government to identify the safest, most direct, and most comfortable walking and riding routes to a school.

It looks at hazards, crossing points, footpaths, and opportunities to improve safety and access, focusing on areas within a 500m radius of a school.

The Plan prioritises areas with the greatest need, demand, and safety benefits. The long-term vision is for a connected network where everyone can safely walk or ride to key destinations if they choose to.

Copenhagen – the capital of Denmark and regarded as the world’s best city for bike riding – has spent AUD$30 per person per year for the past decade. The City’s target of between $6 million to $15 million over the next 10 years represents about $17 per person per year over the next 10 years. This is a great step forward for our regional city.

The City is committed to delivering active transport across the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area. New links will be guided by the Plan’s key focus areas and prioritisation process. 

Projects are identified in the City’s four-year Delivery Program and annual Operational Plans, which are publicly exhibited for community feedback before being adopted by Council each year. 

Once these programs are adopted, resources are allocated so that the community can see which projects are being designed or built each year.

Over the next 10 years, the City will aim to invest between $6 million to $15 million in active transport infrastructure. This will come from a number funding of sources including:

• The City’s capital works budget.
• Developer contributions (as part of new developments).
• NSW Government grants and other targeted funding programs, e.g. the annual Transport for NSW Get NSW Active Program.
• Partnerships with other projects (e.g. road upgrades, sporting facility developments).

The Plan supports delivery of the following strategies:

• Movement and Place Strategy 2023 – Delivers the top priority, “Big Move No. 1: Improve walking and cycling networks.”
• MyCoffs Community Strategic Plan 2035 – Responds to the second-highest priority identified by the community: improving active transport.
• Coffs Harbour Public Realm Strategy – Supports the goal of providing clean, green, safe public spaces within a 5-minute walk for all residents.
• NSW Active Transport Strategy – Aligns with the State’s aim to double walking and bike riding trips over the next 20 years.

After you provide feedback, all submissions will be reviewed and summarised in a report to Council. Council will consider this feedback before deciding whether to adopt the Plan, with or without changes. 

The outcome will be published on the Have Your Say page, and updates will also be shared with submitters, through the City’s e-newsletter, website, and social media.