Western Sydney light rail must stimulate new growth

27 October 2014

The four options for a Western Sydney light rail network need to be assessed through their ability to stimulate new growth, says the Urban Taskforce.

 

“Each of the four options has its own logic and could be great additions to the cities transport network,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “Sydney Olympic Park for instance is crying out for better public transport connections back to Parramatta. This could traverse through redundant industrial land and so stimulate new development. The Carlingford Macquarie Park route has the advantage on having land available and of connecting to the vibrant economy of Macquarie Park. The two north south routes to Castle Hill and to Bankstown balance the current focus on east west transport systems and this could stimulate much needed development along these routes.”

 

“With metropolitan Sydney needing to double the existing 1.66 million homes over the next 50 years we must find the best locations for these new homes. The city cannot keep spreading outwards and most communities won’t want every suburban street to be doubled in density. The best solution to manage this growth will be through apartment living in taller towers at major centres and in mid-rise apartments along light rail routes. “

 

“It is certainly good news that the government has picked up on Parramatta City Councils ideas for a light rail network and committed $400 million to the project. Major infrastructure projects like this should become the backbones of future robust development. Just as the centres along the North West rail will have significant increases in density so too should the centres along Western Sydney’s light rail be places for growth.”

 

“To ensure that existing communities support new growth it would be good if major infrastructure projects were packaged with new growth targets. For example $400 million of light rail infrastructure should stimulate development of at least 4,000 new homes along the route. In a similar manner the WestConnex motorway tunnel should stimulate the development of around 100,000 new apartments along the route. With significant construction happening from an infrastructure project it would seem to be a good time to also generate residential building construction in the same region.”

 

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