17 August 2016
The candidates for the position of Lord Mayor of Sydney must champion all of the city including state government projects, says the Urban Taskforce.
“Major state government projects like Barangaroo, Darling Harbour, the Light Rail and renewal of social housing in Redfern must all be championed and promoted by the next Lord Mayor of Sydney,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “Too often we have seen the Council of the City of Sydney criticising state government projects in the Sydney CBD which undermines confidence in Sydney’s future.”
“Projects like the new Foreshore Park at Barangaroo are excellent additions to Sydney but at a public forum on urban parks held by the City of Sydney it was not even mentioned.”
“The Central Sydney Planning Committee is clearly the structure where state and local interests are debated and the Urban Taskforce believes there needs to be rigorous state government input into policies related to the city centre.”
“The extension at this election of the business vote will change the electorate to one more concerned with economic issues and the council and the Central Sydney Planning Committee will need to acknowledge this shift. The City of Sydney is the main driver of the NSW economy and it is critical that the state government has significant influence on issues that impact on the economic performance of the state.”
“The recently released Draft Central Sydney Planning Strategy will need careful management by the next Sydney City Council as there are a number of issues that could slow down development in the Sydney CBD. The Urban Taskforce has concerns about the move to only allowing residential in tall buildings if half the building is commercial uses.”
Download PDF Version.