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Media Release - Minister's Office Sydney: 12 August 2009 DELIVERING INFRASTRUCTURE AND JOBS IN WESTERN SYDNEY Premier Nathan Rees today announced a major boost for jobs and infrastructure in Western Sydney.
Mr Rees said that the NSW Government is releasing more than 800 hectares of employment land at the intersection of the M4 and M7 in Western Sydney and delivering the $80 million Erskine Park Link Road.
“These new employment lands at Eastern Creek and Horsley Park will accommodate up to 16,500 workers,” Mr Rees said.
“This is a huge boost for Western Sydney – delivering jobs closer home, allowing Mums and Dads to spend more time with their families and less time getting to and from work.
“This new employment land is located in the western part of the Western Sydney Employment Area which is already home to companies like Toll Holdings, Linfox, Coles and Woolworths.”
“The area is four times the size of Centennial Park and will provide local jobs for people living in the North West and South West Growth Centres.”
Mr Rees also confirmed that the NSW Government will fund and deliver the Erskine Park Link Road which is an essential piece of infrastructure that will unlock the potential of the land.
“It will connect the employment lands with a four-lane road to the M7 through Lenore Lane and Old Wallgrove Road, providing a vital new transport spine through the area,” Mr Rees said.
“The Planning Minister has given concept plan approval to the Erskine Park Link Road and the NSW Government will provide upfront funding to build the $80 million project.
“Delivering this road will not only boost access to the employment lands but will ease traffic on local roads in the area.
“It will unlock hundreds of hectares of new employment land and help get industrial trucks on to major motorways and off nearby residential streets.”
Mr Rees said the rezoning of more than 800 hectares of employment lands will also help meet a major target of the Metropolitan Strategy: to provide the capacity for 280,000 new jobs in Western Sydney.
“One of the Government’s key objectives is to provide jobs within 30 minutes from home,” Mr Rees said.
“It will provide for new jobs near the North West and South West Growth Centres, the biggest residential land releases in NSW history providing homes for around half a million new Sydneysiders.”
Planning Minister Kristina Keneally said that the new Western Sydney Employment Area State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) would rezone areas appropriate for industrial development, as well as identify conservation areas and outline infrastructure requirements and funding mechanisms to support job-generating development.
“The Western Sydney Employment Area SEPP ensures the availability and supply of ‘ready-to-go’ serviced industrial land, which is critically important to the future expansion and prosperity of the State’s economy,” Ms Keneally said.
“This land release serves as a major economic catalyst for new employment, investment and economic activity in western Sydney.”
Ms Keneally said that the newly rezoned land in the Western Sydney Employment Area would most likely support warehouse and distribution centres, along with manufacturing and other industrial facilities.
“The Western Sydney Employment Area SEPP contains a simple, straight forward and flexible planning regime which permits the opportunity for the market to respond to industry needs,” Ms Keneally said.
“Today’s announcement is part of the NSW Government’s determination to build Australia’s best planning system – where decisions are transparent, efficient, provide certainty and are made at their most appropriate level.
”Importantly, the SEPP provides certainty regarding where development will occur, it removes the need for individual proponents to seek a rezoning with individual project applications, and it sets out clearly the cost to the proponent for infrastructure contributions.”
Ms Keneally said that the Government would impose a $180,000 State Infrastructure Charge, or SIC, per hectare of developable land in the Western Sydney Employment Area.
“The use of a SIC approach is consistent with development in the North West and South West Growth Centres.
“The SIC level across the whole of the SEPP provides proponents with upfront certainty on the infrastructure costs they are asked to bear for the new development.”
Roads Minister Michael Daley said the completion of the Erskine Park Link Road continues the NSW Government’s record of upgrading and improving the Western Sydney road network.
“The $80 million Erskine Park Link Road is in addition to the record $488 million investment for Western Sydney roads as part of the Rees Labor Government’s 2009-2010 budget,” Mr Daley said.
“This is good news for roads in Western Sydney, and good news for local jobs.”
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