Macarthur: ‘A land of opportunity’

ENDLESS opportunities await the Macarthur area, NSW’s chief planner has promised, predicting a hub of positive activity to reinvigorate the region.

An artist’s impression of the Campbelltown station precinct.

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ENDLESS opportunities await the Macarthur area, NSW’s chief planner has promised, predicting a hub of positive activity to reinvigorate the region.

NSW Planning Department chief planner Gary White, a 40-year planning veteran, told the Macarthur Chronicle last week the potential of the southwest growth corridor was “limitless”.

An artist’s impression of Wilton New Town.

“The importance of the Macarthur corridor, in the context of Sydney, is significant,” Mr White said.

“It is probably going to be one of the most significant greenfield growth corridors anywhere in Australia during the next 10 to 20 years.

“We are at the front end of a new and emerging growth corridor for Sydney, which is well and truly a positive.”

An artist’s impression of South Creek West.

Mr White, who helped lift southeast Queensland city Ipswich out of the doldrums before becoming the NSW chief planner, highlighted the extensive strategic master planning that went into ensuring the Macarthur region thrived.

NSW Department of Planning chief planner Gary White said limitless opportunities are coming to the Macarthur region.

“What we are trying to do is make change our friend,” he said. “We do this by ensuring change is done in a logical, strategic way.

“Sydney is already changing; what we are trying to do is let it change on the back of good strategic planning.”

An artist’s impression of Leumeah station precinct.

The rapidly changing face of the Macarthur region, forecast to be home to an additional 250,000 residents over the next 20 years, has triggered concerns for existing residents.

By 2036, more than 600,000 people will call the Macarthur region home, including more than 100,000 in Wollondilly shire.

The biggest growth will occur in the Marylands precinct which will grow from 27 people to a predicted 19,003 by 2036 — a staggering 69,755.92 per cent rise.

An artist’s impression of the proposed Appin Rd upgrade, part of Walker Corporation's Macquariedale Rd development.

The future vision of Narellan CBD. Credit: RobertsDay

Mr White said suggestions the region was being used as a dumping ground for Sydney was not the case.

“It is actually quite the opposite,” he said.

“I see this as an absolute opportunity to create this special place: to create a unique location and place where people from Sydney would want to go and live.

The Department of Planning vision of growth in the Macarthur region.

“When you start driving through some of the existing suburbs, they are as good as you would see anywhere.

“It is my understanding that people are already starting to discover the fantastic opportunities of being part of a new, growing community.”

NSW Department of Planning executive director Strategic Planning and Programs Brett Whitworth, Chief planner Gary White and Planner Precinct Manager for South West region Russell Simpson.

The population is expected to rise by about 250,000 in the next 20 years. Picture: Ben Rushton.

Key infrastructure projects, such as recently announced North-South Rail Link, connecting Macarthur station to the Western Sydney Airport, have been strategically planned for logical delivery.

Mr White said population trigger points were in place to ensure infrastructure projects will be delivered, when required.

An artist’s impression of the Ingleburn station precinct.

“One of the important things about this planning process is it sets the context for logical sequencing of the release of infrastructure,” he said.

“For instance, you might not put something in for day one but when you get the first 10,000 people that becomes a trigger point.

“The great thing we are doing is we are getting upfront and doing the masterplanning.”

SUBSCRIBER SERIES

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Visit macarthurchronicle.com.au for the next instalment.