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Kempsey Infrastructure Projects, NSW
Non-residential building approvals over the last 12 months are 0.94× this council’s own three-year average. Those approvals are $24.6m.
Kempsey’s economy is service-led, with health care and social assistance the largest employer of residents at 18.75%, followed by retail at 11.34%, education and training at 9.22%, construction at 8.9%, accommodation and food services at 8.59%, and agriculture at 6.07%. Business counts also show a broad small-business base in agriculture, construction, health, retail and transport. The current named project program is mainly transport maintenance and upgrades, with eight active transport jobs, plus approved childcare, school and warehouse works concentrated around Frederickton and South Kempsey. Completed work includes the Kempsey Hospital Redevelopment, several road upgrades and large South West Rocks retail-led developments. This pattern aligns with a council area where service access, local freight movement and visitor-serving coastal activity are more visible than large new industrial expansion.
Named projects
24 projects.
| Type | Proposed | Active | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transport | 0 | 8 | 6 |
| School | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Industrial | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Retail | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Health | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Largest stated values
Active
- Service station — Approved, $1.6mErection of a new structure; Retail Premise; Shop
- Smithtown Road, Seven Oaks — Construction, $1.4mSafety – Narrow Shoulders, road lending toward high speed into tight corners, drainage issues. Safety improvements through shoulder widening. Narrow Shoulder, runoff via Audio.
- Smithtown Road from 0.05km to 1.83km east of Macleay Valley Way WEST KEMPSEY — Construction, $1.3mInstall line marking, upgrade seal to high level non-skid surface, and construct shoulders.
- South West Rocks Road, Gladstone — Construction, $1.3mPavement is in poor condition. Rehabilitate 2 km of road pavement starting at Gladstone and working towards South West Rocks.
- South West Rocks Road from 1.1km to 2.4km north of Hat Head Road KINCHELA — Construction, $1.3mInstall line marking, signage, and barrier. Improve sealed shoulder on curve, and super elevation. Construct road shoulder on straight.
Completed
- Shop — Completed, $127.8mResidential flat building; Erection of a new structure; Retail Premise
- Commercial development — Completed, $15.7mMulti-dwelling housing; Signage; Erection of a new structure; Food and drink premise
- Armidale Road from 0.05km west of Nook Creek Road to 0.55km south-east BELLBROOK — Completed, $2.1mInstall barrier and motorcycle underrun, vehicle activated signs and audio-tactile centre line. Widen pavement, improve sealed shoulder on curve, delineation and superelevation.
- Hat Head Road (Rural Road) — Completed, $1.7mHat Head Road is currently in a poor condition within this section, the road has failed pavement, poor seal quality and is a maintenance burden.The road will be completely.
- Edgar Street, Fredickton — Completed, $1.6mPoor Drainage. Poor Drainage will be rectified with construction of stormwater and kerb gutter Reconstruct 4620 m2 pavement Construct 330 metres drainage line Construct 20 lintels.
Other named projects
- Armidale Road from Temagog Road to 1 kilometre section north west TEMAGOG — Completed, TransportImprove superelevation, upgrade seal to high level non-skid surface, install shoulder to >1m sealed on straight, semi-rigid barrier on roadside, curve alignment markers, new curve.
- Centre-based child care — Approved, SchoolErection of a new structure; Early Education and Care Facility
- Educational establishment; Erection of a new structure — Completed, School
- Erection of a new structure; Centre-based child care — Completed, School
- Hat Head Road from 0.7km to 2.3km east of South West Rocks Road KINCHELA — Construction, TransportInstall guideposts, line marking, barrier, signage and retro reflective pavement markers. Improve sealed shoulder on curve.
- Kempsey Bridge — Construction, TransportThe NSW Government is funding essential maintenance work on the Kempsey Bridge, Lord Street, Kempsey, to ensure the bridge remains...
- Kempsey Hospital Redevelopment — Completed, HealthNSW Health
- Kempsey Station Upgrade — Construction, TransportThe NSW Government is improving accessibility and safety at Kempsey Station.
- Macleay Valley Way - 900m section in the vicinity of Second Lane - KEMPSEY — Completed, TransportUpgrade seal to non-skid surface, install painted median, audio-tactile line marking, left turn acceleration lane, protected right turn lane S-lane raised channelisation, flexible.
- School — Approved, SchoolEducational establishment; Erection of a new structure; Infrastructure
- School — Approved, SchoolEducational establishment; Erection of a new structure
- Tozer Street, West Kempsey — Completed, TransportReduces issues associated with a road width much greater than the standard, including maintenance cost, excessive traffic speed, pedestrian safety and failed pavement. Poor.
- Warehouse or distribution centre; Erection of a new structure — Approved, Industrial
- Warehouse or distribution centre; Erection of a new structure — Approved, Industrial
Read full overview
Health services, retail, agriculture and construction shape Kempsey, while the current project program is dominated by road works and smaller service and industrial additions.
Economic base
Kempsey is a service-heavy regional council with a mixed rural and coastal economy. In the 2021 Census, health care and social assistance accounted for 18.75% of employed residents, making it the largest industry of work. Retail trade followed at 11.34%, then education and training at 9.22%, construction at 8.9% and accommodation and food services at 8.59%. Agriculture, forestry and fishing still had a meaningful 6.07% share, alongside manufacturing at 6.08% and public administration and safety at 6.89%. This mix points to an economy anchored by everyday services, public-serving functions, tourism-related activity and a continuing rural base rather than one dominant export industry. Population was 31,950 in 2025, up 132 people or 0.4%.
Business counts reinforce that broad base. As at June 2025, Kempsey had 2,406 registered businesses and 833 employing businesses. Agriculture had 631 registered businesses, construction 464, health care and social assistance 154, retail 149, professional services 147, rental and real estate 142, other services 130, and both accommodation and food services and transport, postal and warehousing had 118 each. Employing business counts were strongest in construction at 167, retail at 91, agriculture at 83, accommodation and food services at 81, professional services at 67 and health care at 55. Labour market settings are softer than major urban areas, with a labour force of 13,062 and unemployment of 6.4% in 2026 Q1. Social and income measures are also modest, including median household income of $1,085, median personal income of $550 and a median age of 48.
Current project program
The current named project program is led by transport works. Kempsey has 28 named projects in total, with 16 active and 12 completed; transport accounts for eight active projects and six completed ones. Active road works include Smithtown Road at Seven Oaks, a Smithtown Road section east of Macleay Valley Way, South West Rocks Road at Gladstone, South West Rocks Road north of Hat Head Road at Kinchela, and a Hat Head Road section east of South West Rocks Road. Two broader transport assets are also under construction: essential maintenance on Kempsey Bridge and the Kempsey Station Upgrade, which is focused on accessibility and safety.
Outside transport, active work is smaller and concentrated in local service and industrial uses. Approved education projects include a $908.4k centre-based child care facility in Frederickton and two school-related projects in South Kempsey and Greenhill. Industrial approvals are three separate warehouse or distribution centre projects in South Kempsey, including one at $865k and two at $221.3k each; these should be treated as separate works. South West Rocks also has two active commercial development approvals at $15.7m each, but they sit in one narrative group and their values should not be added together. Completed work includes the Kempsey Hospital Redevelopment, several road jobs, and two sizeable South West Rocks developments: a $127.8m shop project and a completed $15.7m commercial development.
Economic connections
The clearest connection between Kempsey’s economy and its current works is local access. With employed residents spread across health, retail, education, construction, agriculture, accommodation and food services, a program dominated by road renewals and bridge maintenance aligns with the need to keep movements between Kempsey, Frederickton, South West Rocks, Gladstone, Kinchela and hinterland localities functioning. Works on Smithtown Road, South West Rocks Road, Hat Head Road, Armidale Road and Kempsey Bridge support freight and service access mechanisms: farm inputs and outputs, retail deliveries, visitor travel to the coast, school and hospital access, and daily commuting. The station upgrade also supports access, but the stated mechanism is specifically accessibility and safety rather than wider economic uplift.
A second connection is service capacity and local business enablement. Health care and social assistance is the largest employment industry, and the completed Kempsey Hospital Redevelopment aligns with that role by supporting the area’s main hospital base; AIHW records one open public hospital in the council. Education and care projects also align with service demand, with 21 approved centre-based childcare services and 1,006 approved childcare places already in the area, so the Frederickton childcare approval could add local capacity if delivered. In South Kempsey, the separate warehouse approvals align with the presence of 118 registered transport, postal and warehousing businesses and 59 wholesale businesses, suggesting modest additional storage and distribution space rather than a major industrial shift.
Outlook
Near-term conditions depend more on delivery of practical access and service projects than on any single headline development. The active list is dominated by transport works, so timing and completion of the Kempsey Bridge maintenance, station upgrade, and current Smithtown Road and South West Rocks Road jobs matter because they affect how reliably residents, freight and visitors move around the council. The current program also has a clear split between completed larger coastal retail projects and a smaller active list of approvals in South Kempsey and Frederickton. That mix suggests current activity is dispersed and incremental rather than concentrated in one new employment precinct or one large public facility.
The main indicators to watch are whether approved non-transport projects move into construction and whether broader non-residential approvals strengthen from current levels. The latest annual non-residential building approvals total of $24.6m is slightly below the council’s own three-year average on a weighted basis, so a sustained lift would indicate a broader spread of approved work, not just isolated jobs. Population growth remains modest at 0.4%, with negative natural increase offset by internal and overseas migration, while the unemployment rate sits at 6.4%.
Key takeaways
- Kempsey’s economy is anchored by health, retail, education, construction, tourism-related services and agriculture, with a broad small-business base rather than one dominant large industry.
- The active project program is mainly transport maintenance and upgrade work, which supports local access and freight movement across Kempsey, coastal centres and hinterland roads.
- Non-transport activity is smaller and focused on service capacity and local industrial enablement, especially childcare, school works and separate warehouse approvals in South Kempsey.
Sources
- Health care and social assistance — ABS Census 2021
- Registered businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Unemployment rate — Small Area Labour Markets
- Retail trade — ABS Census 2021
- Education and training — ABS Census 2021
- Construction — ABS Census 2021
- Accommodation and food services — ABS Census 2021
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing — ABS Census 2021
- Manufacturing — ABS Census 2021
- Public administration and safety — ABS Census 2021
- Estimated resident population — ABS Regional Population
- Population change — ABS Regional Population
- Population change — ABS Regional Population
- Employing businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Registered businesses, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Registered businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Registered businesses, Health Care and Social Assistance — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Registered businesses, Retail Trade — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Registered businesses, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Registered businesses, Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Registered businesses, Other Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Registered businesses, Accommodation and Food Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Registered businesses, Transport, Postal and Warehousing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Employing businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Employing businesses, Retail Trade — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Employing businesses, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Employing businesses, Accommodation and Food Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Employing businesses, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Employing businesses, Health Care and Social Assistance — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Labour force — Small Area Labour Markets
- Median household income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
- Median personal income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
- Median age — ABS Census 2021
- Kempsey Bridge — Transport for NSW
- Non-residential building approvals, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
- Kempsey Station Upgrade — Transport for NSW
- Centre-based child care — NSW planning portal
- School — NSW planning portal
- School — NSW planning portal
- Warehouse or distribution centre; Erection of a new structure — NSW planning portal
- Warehouse or distribution centre; Erection of a new structure — NSW planning portal
- Warehouse or distribution centre; Erection of a new structure — NSW planning portal
- Commercial development — NSW planning portal
- Commercial development — NSW planning portal
- Shop — NSW planning portal
- Commercial development — NSW planning portal
- Kempsey Hospital Redevelopment — NSW Health
- Non-residential building approvals versus this council's own three-year average, weighted by the value of those approvals — ABS Building Approvals
- Smithtown Road, Seven Oaks — Infrastructure Australia
- Smithtown Road from 0.05km to 1.83km east of Macleay Valley Way WEST KEMPSEY — Infrastructure Australia
- South West Rocks Road, Gladstone — Infrastructure Australia
- South West Rocks Road from 1.1km to 2.4km north of Hat Head Road KINCHELA — Infrastructure Australia
- Hat Head Road from 0.7km to 2.3km east of South West Rocks Road KINCHELA — Infrastructure Australia
- Armidale Road from 0.05km west of Nook Creek Road to 0.55km south-east BELLBROOK — Infrastructure Australia
- Armidale Road from Temagog Road to 1 kilometre section north west TEMAGOG — Infrastructure Australia
- Open public and private hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
- Public hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
- Approved centre-based childcare services — ACECQA national register
- Approved childcare places — ACECQA national register
- Registered businesses, Wholesale Trade — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
- Natural increase — ABS Regional Population
- Net internal migration — ABS Regional Population
- Net overseas migration — ABS Regional Population
HtAG Projects · as at 23 September 2026