A forum with eight Western Sydney Councils and representatives of the major development companies demonstrated a common commitment to growth, says the Urban Taskforce.
“The half day forum involving eight pro-growth Western Sydney councils and twenty of Sydney’s major development companies reached significant agreement on the importance of supporting growth in centres across the region,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “The developers were pleasantly surprised at the ‘open for business’ approach the councils demonstrated in presenting their visions for the future.”
“The Mayor of Liverpool summed up this positive approach by saying his council was replacing red tape with a red carpet approach. General Managers and Directors of Planning from Liverpool, Penrith, Camden, Parramatta, Blacktown, Holroyd, Bankstown, and the Hills Shire councils presented the trends and longer term visions for the growth of their areas. All agreed that getting jobs into Western Sydney was very important and that density of development was needed around railway stations.”
“Jeremy Thorpe from PricewaterhouseCoopers presented detailed research on the job profiles of various centres across the Sydney Metropolitan Region which demonstrated the need for more jobs in the Western Sydney Region.”
“Representatives from Goodman, Leighton Properties, Winten and the Crown Group gave developer perspectives on what drove investment decisions and the preferences of tenants. The importance of timely infrastructure funding through the state government for major road projects and public transport was stressed.”
“Some areas of common interest included concerns about the intervention of federal airport authorities on building heights, the need for a one-stop-shop for referrals to state government agencies and the importance of relating height and density to rail infrastructure including light rail.”
“All attending were supportive of processes like this forum that led to local government and the development industry working together more closely. The forum demonstrated that the objectives of councils and developers in supporting quality growth are very similar.”
