To this end, Great Lakes Council recently commissioned an Employment Land Strategy which went on public exhibition last week for a two-month period.

A public information session on the strategy will be held on Monday, December 4 at 5.30pm at the Tea Gardens council office.

The document has been prepared by consultants Kellogg Brown Root in conjunction with Castlecrest Consultants and was partly funded by a grant from the Department of State and Regional Development.

"The aim of the Employment Land Strategy is to analyse the current supply of employment (retail, commercial and industrial) land; determine the current and future demand and to recommend strategies to meet the demand for employment land in the Great Lakes to attract and expand businesses in a way that will maximise economic outcomes and minimise negative environmental impacts," council's economic development manager Deb Tuckerman said. Mrs Tuckerman said the report finds that the largest requirement for land to satisfy current and projected demand is identified in Forster-Tuncurry and Hawks Nest-Tea Gardens.

"This is not surprising given the rapid growth of these communities.

"Other villages and towns were generally seen to have the capacity to accommodate development within the existing zoned land allocations, with the exception of Pacific Palms and Smiths Lake, where the development of new employment land at Charlotte Bay in the longer term is preferred to localised outcomes in each village.

"Site specific opportunities have been identified in Forster, Tuncurry, Tea Gardens, Stroud, Stroud Rd, Booral, Bulahdelah, Nabiac, Coolongolook and Charlotte Bay."

An executive summary of the report is available through Council's website www.greatlakes.nsw.gov.au.

Submissions regarding the strategy are invited and close on Friday, January 19.