Blacktown mayor Tony Bleasdale calls to overturn levy cap to address infrastructure shortfall in Sydney’s northwest

Blacktown mayor Tony Bleasdale has claimed western Sydney residents are being treated like “second-class citizens”, as he fights to overturn a state government policy he says is halting the development of key community infrastructure.

Blacktown City Council mayor Tony Bleasdale OAM called on the NSW Government to release key levies withheld from councils for more than a decade, as he spearheads an statewide effort to overturn the policy. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

A western Sydney mayor has warned that without crucial funding suburbs in Sydney's booming northwest will left “substandard”, missing key amenities including pools, community centres, and public transport.

Blacktown Council mayor Tony Bleasdale OAM called on the NSW Government to release key levies withheld from councils for more than a decade, as he spearheads an statewide effort to overturn a controversial levy cap.

Mr Bleasdale said residents in western Sydney were being treated like “second-class citizens”, despite including areas earmarked to absorb much of the city’s growing population.

“Blacktown will soon be bigger than Tasmania and the ACT in population,” he said. “People don’t just want a roof over their heads. They want amenities. Without funding we won’t be able to provide them what they need.”

Over the next decade, Sydney’s northwest is expected to welcome more than 250,000 new residents.

Blacktown Mayor Tony Bleasdale OAM. Picture: Supplied

That immigration wave has amplified long-running concerns over infrastructure shortfalls.

In the past, councils benefited from funds generated by levies placed on developers for land rezoning. When land is rezoned, its value is increased. A small part of that “lottery win” is used for community facilities.

In 2010, the NSW Government capped the amount of levies councils’ could raise.

As a result, Mr Bleasdale said the council had accrued an infrastructure “backlog” worth more than half a million dollars. Unfunded projects included aquatic centres, libraries, and civic centres.

“It’s about equity,” Mr Bleasdale said. “We don’t want beautiful, new suburbs that have much less in terms of facilities. We want the government to fix this so our people can get some facilities that people have all across the rest of Sydney, like in the eastern suburbs and north shore. [Residents] know every one else has these facilities.”

Last month, the NSW Government announced more than $400m in funding through the WestInvest program, including for projects in Blacktown such as the Mt Druitt and Blacktown pool renovations.

At the time, Mr Bleasdale welcomed the investment but said there were still many more projects awaiting funding, including in the swelling northwest suburbs of Marsden Park and Riverstone.

Mr Bleasdale’s plea comes as multiple NSW local councils unveiled plans to hike rates over the next two years, with some council’s submitting plans to IPART to hike fees by as much as 100 per cent.

Mr Bleasdale said that a rates hike was off the table, for now.

“People have done it tough over the past few years,” he said. “We decided not to increase our rates to give relief to our community.”