GREATER SYDNEY COMMISSION COMMUNITY BRIEFING SESSION 2018

The Greater Sydney Commission (GSC) recently held a community briefing session in April 2018 to provide an update on the major metropolitan planning strategies that will guide the development of the Greater Sydney region in the next forty years. The strategies include Greater Sydney – A Metropolis of Three Cities and District Plans, Transport for NSW’s Future Transport 2056 and Infrastructure NSW’s State Infrastructure Strategy 2018-2038.

The full community briefing session (followed by a Q&A session) can be watched at the GSC’s Facebook page or website. The session had three speakers: Rod Simpson (GSC Environmental Commissioner), Tim Raimond (Executive Director, Future Transport, Transport for NSW) and Kirstie Allen (Head of Strategy and Planning, Infrastructure NSW).

Rod Simpson began the session providing an overview of the Greater Sydney Commission, its regional plan and its long-term vision. He highlighted that by 2056, Greater Sydney will be home to around eight million people and will require an additional 725 dwellings and 817,000 new jobs. The aim of the GSC regional plan is to rebalance the city, with a greater emphasis on the west and ensuring people can access jobs and services within thirty minutes of their place of residence. The community consultation process undertaken for the Region Plan found the following areas to be of importance: transport, job opportunities, infrastructure delivery, open space, affordable housing supply, an industrial lands policy and the need for coordinated and collaborative implementation. The Commission is starting implementation work in several areas including Greater Penrith, Liverpool, Rhodes East, Randwick and Camperdown-Ultimo. More sites will be announced in the near future. The GSC Regional Plan can be viewed here.

The Regional Plan is also affected by the recently announced Western Sydney Deal, which was a response to the announcement of Western Sydney Airport. The commitments under the Western Sydney Deal include connectivity, skills and education, planning and housing, jobs for the future, liveability and the environment, and education and governance. There is $30 million that has been set aside for sustainable growth and $150 million set aside for the liveability program. The deal has a clear emphasis on the need for all government levels to work closely together to ensure strong integrated place-based outcomes are achieved. Information about the Western Sydney Deal can be viewed here.

The next speaker was Tim Raimond from Future Transport. Tim spoke about the Future Transport 2056 strategy, which is building upon Transport for NSW’s 2012 masterplan. The strategy is a living changing document to adapt to government decision making. The intended outcomes of the strategy include customer-focused, successful places, growing the economy, safety and performance, accessible services and sustainability. The strategies community consultation (using face to face and digital methods) found that the community wanted stronger transport connections to their local services and regional areas such as Newcastle and Gosford. There was also a push for more alternative transport options and quicker implementation of transport projects. The Future Transport 2056 strategy can be viewed here.

The last speaker was Kirstie Allen from Infrastructure NSW (an independent body providing advice to the government on infrastructure issues). She spoke about the State Infrastructure Strategy 2018-2038, its vision and its goals. Some of the recommendations of the strategy included the increasing importance of evidence-based decisions and collecting and sharing data in an ethical way. The State Infrastructure Strategy 2018-2038 can be viewed here.

The session finished with a Q&A session with all speakers, plus two commissioners from the Greater Sydney Commission.