Fifty-year wait for new Bradfield city near Western Sydney Airport ‘too long’

New Bradfield plans focus too much on trees and bike paths and not enough on roads and sewage, industry bodies say as they criticised an estimated 50-year completion date put forward by the Planning Minister.

The fifty-year wait for a new city in Sydney’s west is “too long” industry bodies say, with too much focus put on bike paths and canopy cover and not enough on roads and sewage.

Planning Minister Paul Scully on Monday confirmed it would take half a century for Bradfield – the new city to be built in the shadow of the Western Sydney Airport – to match the glossy artist’s impressions being pedalled by the government.

The draft masterplan for Bradfield was finally released on Monday with details including 10,000 new homes made up mostly of apartments, in a precinct which will support 20,000 jobs.

But industry groups slammed the fifty-year timeline for building the 114ha city and said focus had to be on key infrastructure to complete it quicker.

An artist's impression of how the Bradfield city centre will look

“If Bradfield isn’t going to be delivered for 50 years, that’s far too long. Let’s focus on what we can do in the next 20 years, like fixing up Penrith, Liverpool, and Campbelltown and build on the cities that already exist,” Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest said.

He added the draft master plan – which includes details on bike paths and green canopy cover – took focus off the “essential infrastructure” needed at the site beforehand.

“It’s an example of how the focus has been misapplied from infrastructure that’s necessary to get a city like Bradfield up and off the ground – and (instead) turned it into a utopian vision,” he said.

The new Bradfield City Centre Master Plan was released on Monday. Picture: Supplied ,

NSW Property Council regional director Ross Grove said the masterplan underlined the need for fast-tracked delivery of roads around the precinct to enable the city to be built.

“We’re very concerned a semi rural road network will not be able to deliver the … precinct surrounding the airport,” he said.

Planning documents released as part of the draft masterplan state by 2026 up to 1200 jobs will be located at the aerotropolis, but no residents.

The advanced manufacturing research facility currently being built at Bradfield city centre.

By 2036 there will be up to 8300 jobs and 3100 residents, with up to 24,000 jobs and 15,200 residents by 2056.

Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue CEO Adam Leto acknowledged it was a “long-term play”.

“There’s a frustration within industry (over time frames) who are keen to see it moving,” he said.

“The way they’re doing it is ‘measure twice, cut once’.”

How the Bradfield City Centre will look in the Western Sydney Aerotropolis. Picture: Supplied ,

Mr Scully on Monday said he was hopeful demand for serviced land would fuel the completion of the city before 50 years pass.

“The master plan process (says this is) a decades long development … There’s 80 buildings at 15 stories high. It’s not the sort of thing that pops up overnight,” Mr Scully said on Monday

Western Parkland City Authority chair Jennifer Westacott, Planning Minister Paul Scully and Deputy Premier Prue Car at the site of the new Bradfield city centre.

“I think that while the master plan says that it’s a 50-year time horizon for this complete city to come out of the gun, I think you’ll find that it happens a whole lot quicker than that just based on the absolute demand for it.”

Western Parkland City Authority chair Jennifer Westacott, whose organisation has been criticised by business figures for a lack of progress made within the aerotropolis, on Monday backed the length of time it had taken for the next steps of the precinct to be unveiled.

“I don’t accept those criticisms of the authority. You’ve got to do things properly. You’ve got to do this carefully and we are designing this city … for 100 years. You’ve got to do that with care, with caution (and) with due diligence,” Ms Westacott said.

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