Northumberland County Council Reflects on Development Activity in 2020

Pete Fisher
4 years ago
• Categories: City Hall

An Annual Development Activity Report for Northumberland was presented to County Council today, highlighting residential and non-residential construction activity in each of the County’s seven member municipalities throughout 2020.

“Each year, Northumberland County gathers data about local development activity to help inform our Official Plan and policies,” states County Land Use Planning and Inspections Services Manager Dwayne Campbell. “This data provides valuable insight into local development trends and provides a broader understanding of local housing and employment activity, levels of local investment and Northumberland’s economic performance.”

This year’s report indicates an increase of approximately $832,000 in local construction value from 2019, totaling $222.7 million in 2020. Last year, Northumberland municipalities saw over 500 permits issued for residential units valuing $189.3 million and 123 permits issued for non-residential units valuing $33.5 million across all sectors including agricultural, commercial, government, industrial, and institutional.

Four municipalities in Northumberland saw an increase in residential permits from the previous year, including the Township of Alnwick/Haldimand which issued more than double the amount of residential permits issued in 2019, the Municipality of Port Hope which saw an increase of 95 per cent, as well as the Town of Cobourg and the Township of Hamilton.

In 2020, the highest value of non-residential construction went towards institutional development at 38 per cent, with commercial development following closely behind at 33 per cent. These two sectors indicate a change in trends from the previous two years, in which the commercial sector contributed more towards Northumberland’s total non-residential construction value than the institutional sector. Other non-residential sectors saw similar construction values as the previous two years with the industrial sector contributing 20 per cent, agriculture contributing 8 per cent and government contributing 1 percent towards the overall construction value in Northumberland County during 2020.

“The data presented in this report is consistent with the Province’s forecasted growth for Northumberland,” states County Warden Bob Crate. “The steady increase in local development highlighted by this data points to the importance of our current Northumberland Next initiative to ensure a strong Official Plan and policies are in place in order to guide growth and development in Northumberland over the next 30 years in a very intentional manner that supports a thriving Northumberland.”

View the full Annual Development Activity report, including a breakdown of statistics for each municipality, in the March 17th County Council Agenda available at Northumberland.ca/Council.