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Westmead will be Australia’s premier health and innovation district – an ecosystem for excellence, ambition and collaboration. Innovation is centred around the Westmead and Children’s hospitals and extends to Parramatta North where a new university and enterprise precinct is proposed. Our vision drives this change to accelerate delivery of jobs for the future.
Areas south of the railway also offer the opportunity for a walkable neighbourhood providing more housing choice and diversity, with an urban village at its heart and excellent public transport connections.
The transformation of Westmead plays an important role in delivering the vision of Greater Parramatta as Sydney’s Central River City.
We have prepared a draft Westmead Place Strategy to guide the transformation of Westmead to 2036.
The draft place strategy sets the vision for the continued evolution of Westmead, to become a world-class health and innovation district with exceptional place outcomes for workers and residents. The draft place strategy applies to land within Westmead, and portions of Northmead and Parramatta North.
We welcome your comments on the draft Westmead Place Strategy, which is on exhibition until Wednesday 31 March 2021.
You can find out more about the draft place strategy by booking a one-on-one briefing with one of our planners.
The draft place strategy does not seek to rezone land. It will guide local councils, State agencies and the private sector on land use planning for Westmead and outlines steps to ensure investment and infrastructure is aligned to anticipated growth.
The draft place strategy aims to:
Following the exhibition period, all feedback and submissions will be carefully considered and will help shape the final place strategy.
The Department will submit the final place strategy package to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces to adopt the plan through a Ministerial Direction under Section 9.1 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act.
Once the place strategy is finalised, the Department will work with Cumberland and City of Parramatta Councils through ‘Collaborative Planning’ in the preparation of studies and strategies to guide future development and drive quality place outcomes. Any future rezoning of the area will be initiated by councils, landowners or proponent agencies through the planning proposal process.
Following the exhibition period, all feedback and submissions will be carefully considered and will help shape the final place strategy.
The Greater Sydney Commission will coordinate a whole of government delivery response across the key health and innovation precincts in the strategy.
Westmead is nestled centrally within metropolitan Sydney and extends over 432 hectares. It is bounded by Parramatta to the north and east, Wentworthville to the west and Mays Hill and Merrylands to the south.
Westmead is divided into two distinct areas by the rail line, with each area in a different Local Government Area (LGA). The northern portion is located within the City of Parramatta LGA consisting of the Westmead Health and Innovation District, Parramatta North and parts of Northmead. The southern portion is located within the Cumberland LGA, consisting of low to medium density residential. A map of the strategy area is below:
The draft Westmead Place Strategy provides a shared vision for Westmead informed by a number of background studies and planning documents, including:
The Department recognises the precinct's culturally sensitive areas and identifies actions required to ensure significant heritage values are reinforced throughout the precinct.
The draft Westmead Place Strategy encourages sensitive and adaptive re-use of heritage buildings and requires protection of views and vistas to the significant heritage items in Parramatta Park and Parramatta North.
The Department will collaborate with councils to prepare studies to understand built form and visual impacts of future development to heritage items.
The NSW Government has identified Parramatta North sub-precinct as a potential location for the relocation of Willow Grove.
A key planning priority of the draft Westmead Place Strategy is to ensure that the building siting is appropriate. The national heritage listed Heritage Core is not being considered as a potential location.
The relocation of Willow Grove would be subject to further heritage considerations, detailed design and planning approvals.
The Pilot Place-based Infrastructure Compact (PIC) for Greater Parramatta and the Olympic Peninsula (GPOP), is proposed to be supported by a Strategic Business Case and Strategic Plan for GPOP. This will identify regional infrastructure requirements and funding mechanisms, that will include a future Special Infrastructure Contribution (SIC). This work will continue following the public exhibition of the draft Westmead Place Strategy.
Both City of Parramatta and Cumberland Councils have local contributions plans that apply in Westmead. The draft Westmead Place Strategy identifies the need for further analysis to be undertaken to understand the infrastructure needs of the future population. If any planning proposals are determined before a strategy is in place, Council may need to consider available mechanisms to enable appropriate contributions towards the provision of local infrastructure that will meet the demands of the future community.
Page last updated: 16/02/2021