AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE COMMITTEE FOR SYDNEY’S JOINT SUBMISSION TO THE GREATER SYDNEY COMMISSION & TRANSPORT FOR NSW JANUARY 2018 AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE COMMITTEE FOR SYDNEY’S JOINT SUBMISSION TO THE GREATER SYDNEY COMMISSION & TRANSPORT FOR NSW The Committee’s December 2017 joint PART 1 – THE COMMITTEE’S submission to the Greater Sydney Commission SUBMISSION TO THE GREATER (GSC) Draft Greater Sydney Region Plan, SYDNEY COMMISSION the Transport for NSW (TfNSW) Draft Future Transport Strategy 2056 and the linked A more clearly defined planning hierarchy: TfNSW Draft Greater Sydney Services The primacy of the Plan – A Metropolis of Three Cities and Infrastructure Plan was a significant (AMO3C) – needs to be reinforced. The Committee argues contribution, weighing in at 70 pages. While that “other State and Local Government plans should be that document contains the sum of months required to conform and support the Plan and its preferred urban structure, including all agencies which have a role in of evidence building and consultation with delivering infrastructure and services for the city”. members, the Committee recognises the Recommendation 1: That the GSC’s metropolitan and district need for a shorter summary. This paper plans be made statutory. unpacks the submission’s main findings Recommendation 2: That local plans, and other government and recommendations. If you would like planning strategies, be required to align with and support the further information, our full submission is GSC’s published plans. Where they conflict, the GSC’s plans available online. should take priority. The Committee’s submission came out strongly in favour of Stronger Local Government input: the role and function of the GSC and its broader vision for Greater Sydney. In particular, the Committee was strongly The Committee’s submission argues that to encourage supportive of the decision by both the GSC, as well as further alignment going forward, Sydney’s councils should TfNSW to embrace the alignment of land-use and transport be given a greater role in the governance of the GSC. One planning. The Committee has long argued in favour of such option to achieve this objective would be through a series a change. In order to reflect this alignment, our submission of ‘high level forums’ with council leaders and general was developed to respond to both inquiries, with all managers at which the plans and activities of the GSC our recommendations going to both departments. The would be discussed. Committee believes that you cannot achieve the objectives Recommendation 3: That the NSW Government establish a of either organisation without this linkage, and argues that twice a year (or quarterly) forum between itself, the GSC and Sydney will only flourish if there remains a close relationship both the leaders and general managers of local councils to and mutual understanding between our strategic help secure more Local Government input into the drafting planning bodies. and updating of GSC documents. Going forward, Sydney’s transport network must reinforce core city planning objectives and outcomes – supporting greater access to jobs and increasing residential density close to public transport. It must also enhance the liveability of places and centres, delivered through a hierarchy of transport mode users with greater emphasis on pedestrians and cyclists than has been the case in previous transport strategies. The Committee commends both the Greater Sydney Commission and Transport for NSW for this innovative and Front Page Image Credit: Sydney aerial view’, by Maksym Kozlenko licenced important alignment. under CC BY-SA 4.0. 2 Securing consistency across government: Tracking the Western Sydney jobs gap: The Committee argues that the GSC “will be judged not The Committee’s submission cites research by Western just by the content of its plan but by the capacity of the Sydney University (WSU) which found that while almost metropolitan and cross-agency coordination it embodies 14,000 people enter the work force each year in Greater and promotes to avoid repeating the errors of the past”. Western Sydney, only 8,000 jobs are created. To rectify To ensure the GSC’s broader vision for Sydney is delivered this imbalance, the Committee argues that Sydney needs upon, there will need to be a specific strategy to prevent a “decisive shift in the proportion of knowledge jobs being departments acting as silos and to deliver consistency created in Western Sydney”, while also making sure that across government. the “jobs which are agglomerating in the ‘Harbour CBD’ are The Committee argues that greater clarity around made more accessible to people living in the Central and benchmarks, metrics and targets for assessing the Western Cities”. The former will be achieved through a focus implementation of the GSC Plan and the progress of the on strategic centres and collaboration areas, while the latter city is needed, and that the GSC should be given greater will be addressed through high-speed, mass-transit. authority and powers to review other government agencies, Challenge for further discussion: According to the beyond just the role of collaborator and facilitator. GSC’s data, for every dwelling in the Eastern City District For example, in the ‘Western City’, the Draft Plan is seeking there are 1.28 jobs presently available in nearby centres. to build a city the size of Canberra today. The Department By 2036, that ratio will surge to 1.4 ‘jobs per dwelling’. For of Education and Training should publish a plan on how residents in the Western City District however, the ratio will and where new schools are to be delivered and in what increase by a much smaller amount, from the already low sequence. This plan would be audited against the GSC’s base of 0.32 ‘jobs per dwelling’ to the still low level of 0.36 vision, with land use and transport integration resulting in far by 2036. In the Central City District, which encompasses more walkable journeys between schools and homes. Parramatta , the increase will be even smaller, shifting from 0.55 to 0.57 over 20 years. Disturbingly, the GSC’s own The Committee also urges consideration of a ‘pan Sydney forecast is for the jobs imbalance to be worse in 2036 than City Deal’ involving the three tiers of government to it is today. drive the delivery of elements of the Draft Plan across the city. Furthermore, the submission recommends the Figure 1. ‘The ratio of ‘Jobs in Centres’ to ‘Dwellings establishment of ‘State Government-to-Local Government’ by District’ City Deals to drive a program of town centre renewal 1.5 across Sydney. 2017 Recommendation 4: That the GSC be given greater 1.2 2036 authority and powers to review other government agencies, beyond just a role of collaborator and facilitator. NET CHANGE 0.9 Recommendation 5: That GSC compliant long-term plans are developed by all major infrastructure departments 0.6 of government, including Local Government, to ensure consistency with the long-term plan across governments. 0.3 Recommendation 6: That the Federal Government’s City Deals program be expanded as a further means of aligning 0.0 and coordinating delivery of urban infrastructure, with EASTERN CITY CENTRAL WESTERN CITY DISTRICT CITY DISTRICT DISTRICT consideration of a similar model to be rolled out at the ‘State Government-to-Local Government’ level. Recommendation 7: That baseline mapping of the current effective job density across Sydney be conducted to track how the imbalance shifts over the lifetime of the GSC Plan and TfNSW Strategy. Recommendation 8: That baseline mapping be undertaken, not just of 30 minute access within the three cities by public transport, but also of the time taken to get to the Harbour City from all parts of Sydney. COMMITTEE FOR SYDNEY 3 Figure 2: The number of jobs accessible within 30-minutes in Sydney on a weekday morning Source: Committee for Sydney, The Geography of Time, 2017. Rebalancing the city using connectivity and placemaking: The Committee welcomes the GSC’s focus on placemaking as an employment generator, and agrees that “supporting the revitalisation of our many town centres and improving their connectivity with better transport is critical to improving urban productivity, environmental sustainability and the health and well-being of our citizens”. Recommendation 9: That appropriate acknowledgement be given to the role of strategic centres and town centres as job agglomeration locations provided that they are well designed, walkable, amenable & well connected by mass-transit. 4 Turning Sydney’s strategic centres and town Recommendation 11: That the GSC support the development centres into job hubs: of centres as job hubs by initiating a town centre urban renewal and design program in association with local While the Committee commends the emphasis on the councils in Sydney, supported by the Government Architect importance of ‘centres’ for job creation, the Committee argues (GANSW), to improve the urban design of centres, such as by that there “needs to be more fine-grained analysis of what implementing ‘Chicago Complete Streets’ style policies and kinds of centres are likely to be the focus of jobs in future, providing the green infrastructure to improve their amenity what kinds of jobs will be generated and where those centres and walkability. will be”. There also needs to be more focus on encouraging vibrant, safe and economically successful town centres Recommendation 12: That centre-supporting social and at night. transportation infrastructure improvements are framed with wider renewal and city-shaping objectives in mind. This will Challenge for further discussion: The Committee include the coordination of station upgrades, public realm submission notes that in the current Draft Plan, “most enhancements and any development restructuring of the future residential development in Sydney is away from the core area. existing ‘strategic centres’ and that most of the existing strategic centres are not in Western Sydney.