How Melbourne’s western suburbs rate for living, working and playing

THE sky’s the limit in potential for Melbourne’s west — but only if booming jobs are matched with entertainment, better public transport, sports centres and open areas, a new report says.

THE SKY’S the limit in potential for Melbourne’s west, if booming jobs are matched with entertainment, better public transport, sports centres and open areas.

PwC’s CityPulse research highlights how the expansion in the city’s growth corridors has come without the services and infrastructure to support the population.

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The western suburbs of Melbourne is the nation’s fastest-growing region.

Jobs growth has come from housing construction, which is jobs intensive, and the emergence of warehouse and logistics industries linked to the arterial road connections.

PwC partner John Marinopoulos said a western regional authority was needed to drive investment and co-ordinate planning.

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Melbourne’s west is booming in part due to industries linked to the region’s arterial road connections. Picture: Nicole Garmston

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The PWC report states while the west was rich with job opportunities, it fell short on entertainment, open space and sporting facilities.

Mr Marinopoulos said the west was full of promise.

“We can make the west be anything we want it to be,’’ he said. “We’ve done a good job developing the west but we can do more and accelerate that growth. We need to make the west prosper.’’

Infrastructure and services were struggling to keep up with residential growth, the report reveals.

While the west has a growing workforce, the north of the city is struggling for employment, because of factory and manufacturing industry shutdowns.

The outer north scores lower on the CityPulse rankings for live, work and play than the inner north.

Significant pockets of welfare dependency and unemployment persist, with Broadmeadows, Meadow Heights and Coolaroo rated as the top three places for unemployment in Melbourne.

But PwC partner David Sacks said there was an opportunity for the north to have its own identity and move from some of its traditional industries to more future-focused industries.

La Trobe University is now the largest employer in the area.

The Victorian Planning Authority has earmarked the La Trobe region as a national employment and innovation cluster.

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“This has the potential to be an engine room to really help the northern wedge to transition and deal with some of the industry challenges,’’ Mr Sacks said.

Residents in the outer north travel mostly by car because of limited public transport.

Mr Sacks said the region could become an agricultural hub because of its proximity and transport links to rural areas as well as capitalising on existing food manufacturing and the fruit and vegetable wholesale market at Epping.

La Trobe University in Bundoora is now the northern suburbs’ largest employer.

The influential Committee for Melbourne recognised that most high-paying jobs were in the CBD, but most people do not live there, nor close by.

“With the way that the economy is evolving, this issue is likely to get worse if we don’t address it,’’ a spokesman said.

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Professor Robin Goodman, dean of the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University, said the key priorities for the west were improved public transport and creating long-term jobs in the region.

“The challenge is for future-oriented jobs for the area, such as IT workers,’’ Prof Goodman said.

“Sunshine and Footscray could become employment hubs and that will help.’’

New jobs in the west meant fewer people commuting into the city, she said.

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@IanRoyall