Development Industry Working With Western Sydney Councils

Eight Western Sydney Councils and representatives of major development companies and industry professionals attended a forum to discuss prominent issues within the region last week.

The Urban Taskforce’s CEO, Chris Johnson said the forum demonstrated a common commitment to growth.

“The half day forum reached significant agreement on the importance on supporting growth in centres across the region. The developers were pleasantly surprised at the ‘open for business’ approach the councils demonstrated in presenting their visions for the future,” Mr Johnson said.

Mayors and Directors of Planning from the Western Sydney area contributed their visions for long-term growth and discussed the trends visible in their particular region, which developers can take on board when conceptualising their next major projects.

“The Mayor summed up this positive approach by saying his council was replacing red tape with a red carpet approach. All agreed that getting jobs into Western Sydney was very important and that density of development was needed around railway stations,” Mr Johnson said.

“Representatives from Goodman, Leighton Properties, Winten and the Crown Group gave developer perspectives on what drove investment decisions and the preferences of tenants. The importance of timely infrastructure funding through the state government for major road projects and public transport was stressed.

“All attending were supportive of processes like this forum that led to local government and the development industry working together more closely. The forum demonstrated that the objectives of councils and developers in supporting quality growth are very similar.”