18 June 2013
The NSW State Budget delivers on the need for significant funding of infrastructure and incentives to drive more housing supply, says the Urban Taskforce.
INFRASTRUCTURE
In difficult economic times it is good to see that the NSW Government is selling assets like Port Botany, Government Office Buildings and now Newcastle Port to fund new infrastructure projects, says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. This has enabled the government to fund a $60 billion infrastructure program over the next 4 years to support new housing and jobs.
The commitment of $1.8 billion to the WestConnex project confirms previous statements but gives the project a real priority. What is needed is to ensure that the project delivers urban renewal along its route as well as resolving transport issues. Despite previous statements that the Parramatta Road leg would be in a tunnel, the budget papers do not refer to this while stating that a business case is being finalised.
The allocation of $70 million towards the upgrading of Wallgrove Road in Western Sydney will go a long way to encouraging more jobs in the area. More infrastructure investment will be needed, however, if the bold targets in the Metropolitan Strategy for Sydney of delivering 50% of new jobs in Western Sydney over the next 20 years are to be realised.
Light Rail seems to be the big winner in this years budget with $1.6 billion allocated for the City to Randwick line, $10 million for studies for the Newcastle Light Rail and $214 million for the Inner West Light Rail. Clearly the current government is getting behind Light Rail as a public transport mode. Our concern is that Light Rail needs good urban densities along its route to be viable and the planning system needs to look at the potential to rezone land along Light Rail routes.
HOUSING
Housing supply gets a renewed boost following last years budget focus with the allocation of $300 million to the Housing Acceleration Fund. This will mainly fund infrastructure projects that help unlock the development of new housing lots. The claim that this will deliver 42,900 new homes doesnt acknowledge that this supply would be over many years.
The continuation of the First Home Owners grants of $15,000 for new housing over the next two years will help with supply. The Urban Taskforce is concerned that housing supply will need further boosting while the New Planning System is implemented. The pipeline of housing projects flowing from the previous governments Part 3A is slowing down and the government will need to look at further stimulus.
PLANNING
The allocation of $20.9 million to support the roll out of the New Planning System is welcomed. This is a once in a generation opportunity to rethink and simplify the whole planning system. The Urban Taskforce is concerned that the transition process between the old and the new system could take a number of years and this period of time needs to be carefully managed to ensure building construction continues at high levels.
While we support the involvement of communities in the strategic phase of planning this needs to be done with a full understanding of the need to manage growth and change. Our perception has been that many community groups are against development. The allocation of $3 million for community engagement and cultural change needs to help raise community awareness about the need to manage growth and to therefore avoid individual project fights.
The community engagement process should look at improving the communities understanding of developers and explain their role as providers of jobs and housing. The overly negative attitude of some community groups, including the Greens, to the development industry needs to be modified by more interaction between the groups.