WORK has started on a $120 million 800-lot subdivision at Singleton, the town's first major residential development in about 30 years.
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The project, a joint venture between Singleton Council and Bridgman Ridge Holdings, will be released in stages over the next 10 years.
The first stage comprises 27 lots, which are already selling from a site plan.
The council's acting general manager Gary Woodman said the town's last substantial residential subdivision was the 3000-lot Singleton Heights development in the 1970s.
Mr Woodman said the council bought land in the 1970s and 1980s in preparation for residential development as mines in the Upper Hunter expanded.
"In 2003 the council decided it shouldn't be the only land developer in the town," Mr Woodman said.
"We had a couple of expressions of interest in doing joint ventures with 158 hectares of land we owned and a deal was struck with Bridgman Ridge Holdings."
Mr Woodman said the development would include a commercial zone of about three hectares, which would make way for a neighbourhood shopping centre.
The council is also developing other smaller residential estates and plans are on the drawing board for a 550-lot development called Gowrie Links, which will be based around an 18-hole golf course.
Mr Woodman said the council has always worked on a 1.1 to 1.3 per cent a year growth rate but over the past five years that has increased to 1.62 per cent.
Bridgman Ridge Holdings director Brad Weeks said Singleton had great potential and the demand for residential land was increasing.
"There is a need for people to live where they are employed and there is still a lot of coal to come out of the ground there," Mr Weeks said.
"There is a fairly high disposal income in that area and we are really doing our best to have a development match the needs of the community."
Mr Weeks's company is based in Newcastle. He has carried out a number of other small developments in Sydney and Newcastle.
