01 July 2008
The housing and jobs targets in todays draft strategies for the City of Sydney and the Inner West should be achieved sooner, rather than later, according to Aaron Gadiel, chief executive of the Urban Taskforce.
Sydneys facing a dramatic shortage of housing and well-located employment, Mr Gadiel said.
These strategies are a good first step to creating the compact, job rich, pedestrian friendly communities our inner and middle ring suburbs need.
However the targets are very modest and were worried that local councils wont act on them quickly enough.
The Inner West strategy has a target of 12,500 new jobs for the region between 2001 and 2031. The Sydney City strategy has a jobs target of 58,000 additional jobs to 2031.
The target for jobs is not ambitious only providing for less than half a per cent job growth each year for thirty years, Mr Gadiel said.
This is half the rate of job growth Sydney experienced between 2001 and 2006.
Annual job growth between the 2001 and 2006 censuses across Sydney was one per cent.
If were to ease the strain on our citys struggling transport system, we need a much more rapid growth in job numbers in the inner suburbs of Sydney, Mr Gadiel said.
This can be achieved only if local councils change their zoning plans now, to fully accommodate these targets. These job targets should be achieved by 2016 at the latest, rather than 2031.
Mr Gadiel said that integrating housing, workplaces, shopping and recreation areas into compact neighbourhoods would help achieve job growth targets.
The shortage of new homes has forced rents up with an increase of 26 per cent across Sydney over the past three years.
If local councils dont change their zoning plans quickly Sydney will have to brace itself for even higher rents and property prices in the next three years.
Well also face even more serious transport problems as people have to spend more time commuting.
The Urban Taskforce will be monitoring the progress of local councils if they dont deliver well be making sure the community knows about it.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
