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Urban Taskforce | Media Releases
More Jobs in Western Sydney Vital for Sydney's Planning
9th August 2012
The Urban Taskforce Australia has today released a report which finds that the most important issue in improving Sydneys transport and infrastructure problem is to reverse the massive number of commuters heading daily from Western Sydney to work in other parts of Sydney.
Each day 200,000 people migrate from Western Sydney to work in other parts of Sydney, says Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson. If most of these commuters worked in Western Sydney we would dramatically reduce the congestion on Sydneys roads and the public transport system as well providing more time with families.
By 2031 there are likely to be over 300,000 commuters unless we take major actions to dramatically increase jobs in Western Sydney.
To change a jobs deficit of this order will require some high level actions from the NSW Government but the gains will be to the whole city. In particular the enormous cost of infrastructure to cope with mass movement can be minimised.
The Urban Taskforce has developed a 10 point plan by working with consultants Urbis and a number of on the ground developers of job related facilities in Western Sydney. The Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) has been involved in discussions about the importance of generating more jobs for the region.
Planning bodies often talk about the ˜Global Arc of high order jobs flowing from Sydney Airport through the city to Macquarie University. We are proposing to balance this with the Western Sydney Jobs Diamond where the regions most important jobs will be located. The diamond will have the major cities of Parramatta, Penrith and Liverpool as well as major university and health campuses and key employment land areas.
A strong planning framework must be established to drive more jobs into Western Sydney. This could be as a Sub-Regional Jobs Delivery Plan under the new planning system proposed by the Government.
We support WSROCs call for a development authority for Western Sydney and suggest that it should be the Western Sydney Economic Development Authority.
Funding for infrastructure is essential and a Western Sydney Infrastructure Investment Fund needs to be established to bring together a raft of different levies and funds into a coordinated approach.
A new second airport at Badgerys Creek can be a catalyst for many jobs in the region.
The nature of work is changing fast in the internet age and planning rules need to encourage mixed use and hybrid zoning to allow a variety of jobs to be established.
More public service jobs must be relocated to Western Sydney which is where many staff live. The NSW Government should survey their workforce and then decide where the best location for decentralised offices will be. Blacktown, for instance, has a shortfall of 50,000 jobs and some of this could be reversed by locating Government jobs in the town centre.
Please click on the following links to our fact sheets:
1. 10 Actions: http://www.urbantaskforce.com.au/images/stories/Fact_sheet_-_Jobs_in_Western_Sydney_-_Redressing_the_Balance.pdf
2. Current Job Issues in Western Sydney: http://www.urbantaskforce.com.au/images/stories/Fact_Sheet_-_Current_Job_Issues_In_Western_Sydney.pdf