‘Boulevard of broken dreams’: Sydney’s biggest projects that never happened

While there has been plenty of change and innovation in Sydney over the last decade, there are plenty of projects that never came to be. Here’s the Sydney transformation we never got.

• How Sydney has changed in a decade

Sydney’s history is littered with projects that could have transformed our city if only they had been built.

Cost pressures, red tape, recalcitrant planners, and community outrage have all played their own role in adding to the list of mega-projects that ended up on the scrap heap, along Sydney’s boulevard of broken dreams.

A lack of appetite for political risk is one of the biggest hurdles to transforming Sydney for the better, experts say.

Industry representatives and former political leaders have told The Daily Telegraph that we could be let down if governments defer decision making to a bureaucratic spreadsheet.

Reflecting on how Sydney has changed since the inaugural Bradfield Oration in 2014, Committee for Sydney CEO Eamon Waterford said we have gone through unprecedented changes over the past decade.

“The city has changed more in the last 10 years than in any 10 year period in the last 80,” Mr Waterford said.

Since 2014, WestConnex has connected Western Sydney and beyond, while NorthConnex is opening up the north.

Sydney has been gripped by Metro mania since Sydney Metro City opened.

Eamon Waterford, CEO of the Committee for Sydney says the city has changed more in 10 years than it had in 80.

An early precursor to the Sydney rail map seen here in the 1924 thesis presented by Sydney Harbour bridge chief engineer Dr. John Bradfield. Photo courtesy of the University of Sydney

“These big projects are unimaginable until someone sets a vision for the city, they’ll never be delivered under a business a benefit cost ratio,” Mr Waterford said.

“If there was a fear that I have, it’s that we are going to go back to the decade before the last decade, and lose momentum as a global city.”

His comments were echoed by former Premier and former Bradfield orator Mike Baird, who called for a “united, steely purpose” on building for now and the future.

Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger said we could be held back if leaders do not have any appetite for risk.

“But I think the fundamental issue of our time is the courage of government to take risks,” he said.

“We live in the best place in the world. But we’ve got one hand tied behind our back because we’ve forgotten how to take risks,” he said.

Mr Borger identified two specific projects that could be a handbrakes on future growth if they do not go ahead.

If plans to develop Rosehill Racecourse into a 25,000 home mini-city do not go ahead, that would be “the moment our city failed to grasp one of our best opportunities”.

“I think if we don’t put development in Rose Hill, we are always going to look back in regret,” he said.

Mr Borger also said that governments need to start planning now for a fuel pipeline to Western Sydney Airport to ensure roads do not get clogged with congestion from fuel trucks in years to come.

“We’ve got this critical time in the next year or two to sort of lock in the fuel pipeline and know and be clear about its delivery,” he said.