The list of Western Sydney suburbs in desperate need of a ‘buzz’

Corner stores used to be the hubs of local communities but huge Western Sydney housing developments are lacking the facilities that bring people together. This is the plan to fix the problem.

Lara Davis is so sick of living in a “boring” suburb filled with endless rows of houses – and very little else – that she’s moving her family out.

And she’s not the only one, with calls for Western Sydney to “bring back the corner store” to breathe some life into many soulless suburbs.

Experts said it’s a problem that was highlighted by Covid lockdowns and new habits of working from home, where people have discovered their suburb seems to be just a dormitory for more interesting places.

“If there were cafes, small shops and more of a buzz we might have hung around, but that is not here,” Mrs Davis said.

“It’s driving me nuts living here.”

Lara Davis pictured with her children Kyra (5) and Beau (1) says her suburb of Box Hill needs more cafes, parks and retail to turn it into a proper suburb. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Mrs Davis has decided to quit Box Hill and take her two children to the Central Coast.

Business Western Sydney has identified 15 suburbs in desperate need of some retail therapy.

In a first of its kind study, the group has mapped our areas where small retail footprints would give populated areas a boost

Box Hill, Denham Court, Mount Annan, Glenfield, South Parramatta, South Granville, Bow Bowing and Merrylands were some of the areas identified as needing small retail, even though in some cases there were nearby shopping centres.

Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger said: “Clearly there are many pockets in western Sydney that are under-shopped”.

“It’s about bumping into neighbours and having a chat,” he said.

“I think those neighbourhoods are safe. I think people feel happier living in those places because they’re not anonymous.

“We’ve got to move away from this notion that huge tranches of the suburbs are for houses only.”

Mr Borger is challenging local and state governments to team up with retailers to deliver 100 small retail precincts in Sydney suburbs that are otherwise covered in homes.

These could include bakeries, bars, beauty salons, cafes, convenience stores, laundries, liquor stores, pet stores, pharmacies, post offices, restaurants and supermarkets.

Mr Borger, a former Labor minister for roads, Western Sydney and transport, also called on councils to review their planning rules to ensure a local retail centre is supported by a critical population mass to then attract retail investment.

Areas like Albert St in North Parramatta have benefited from one such investment.

The Container Cafe n the Albert St precinct where Nathan Georgaklis and Chrissy Vavdinos work helped spark community engagement in North Parramatta today. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The precinct was established 12 years ago after two fibro houses made way for a new retail area.

Now it has a small supermarket, physiotherapist, recruitment centre and The Container cafe.

“The cafe is very homely and suburban and what people like is that they often see each other up there,” owner George Georgaklis said.

“The neighbouring businesses feed off each other. Every day during the pandemic people kept saying: ‘We’re so glad you’re still open’.

“I think the pandemic has taught us how important local retail is.”

Planning expert and Astrolabe Group director Michael Comninos said an increasing number of stay-at-home workers want their local areas to have more of a buzz during the day.

“The pandemic has shifted the focus back to the suburbs,” he said.

“Corner stores were previously common but have been swallowed in recent years by bigger shopping centres and service stations, which have become convenience stores.

“If we don’t cater to this growing need for a daytime economy in suburban areas, we are at risk of losing populations to the regions.”

Another suburb on the list is Mt Annan, near Camden is southwest Sydney.

Camden councillor and former mayor Eva Campbell said the area has suffered because Narellan Town Centre has become “completely oversized”, sucking the life out of surrounding areas.

“Mt Annan was originally going to be a district centre because it was centrally located near Currans Hill and Narellan Vale,” she said.

“Mt Annan’s shopping district is inaccessible because instead of having parking centrally located, it is all over the place.

“They might as well knock it down and start again.”

Mrs Campbell said the state government has allowed market forces to determine what people get.

“Centres like Narellan Town Centre and Oran Park Centre go for bigger being better but they end up damaging the viability of the smaller ones, which can cater for local people and mean they do not have to travel far or get in their cars,” she said.

THE JOY OF WALKING TO THE CORNER STORE

- David Borger

Like most people living in Western Sydney I found the experience of the lockdown last year isolating.

Unable to escape the 5km bubble, the one saving grace in my case was that we have neighbourhood retail within a few steps of our house, including a fantastic cafe and a grocery store.

Sadly most of Western Sydney misses out on these local amenities. The further you west you go, the greater the distance you have to travel to your nearest shop.

Our new report shows that Western Sydney lacks retail you can walk to. If we are going to create great liveable neighbourhoods, we need to create areas that contains these critical amenities; cafes, restaurants, and grocery stores.

Up until WWII, most cities were built assuming that people would need to walk to where they wanted to go.

Small retail precincts are vital in helping keeping a community connected. Picture: Monique Harmer

Following the explosion of car ownership, we stopped organically allowing local shops to form. Town planners have since used land zoning rules to tie up tie up the things that we need in our everyday lives.

Even today the vast majority of Sydney is zoned to ban local neighbourhood retail.

Yet we know that people living in suburbs with high walkable amenity to local shops not only find them more convenient, but also these local shops help to build a sense of community. You see your neighbours, their heartaches, kids, pets and even life milestones.

This sort of social capital is hard to create. And it’s not just the local shops that we’re missing out on.

Other amenities like the local pub just don’t feature on our streets in newer suburbs.

The great thing about bringing back the corner store is that it doesn’t cost the public anything, it simply means using data to pinpoint where these stores will be viable and changing the colour on a zoning map.

It’s time that our town planners and local governments look for these opportunities to create great lively neighbourhoods by bringing back the local shops.

Like all big cities, Sydney is increasingly becoming an apartment city.

That’s great for housing choice and affordability, but without a walkable community hub, especially in mature development areas – be it a cafe, a corner store, or a takeaway shop – we will continue to lose our interconnectedness within the community.

The old saying is that it takes a village to raise a child.

But without providing local walkable opportunities to meet others in our suburban villages, we’ll lose that sense of community we all want.

David Borger is Business Western Sydney executive director