Sydney - Planning for the future? (1 Viewer)

[Generator]

Parting shot from axed top planner

Given that these threads (#1, #2, #3) are all reasonably old and that the thread discussing desalination, though important, is quite narrow in its focus, I thought that a new thread would be a good idea.

So... There are many issues that may be discussed within this thread, so why don't we start with the State Government's approach to the Metropolitan Strategy and other notions of medium to long-term planning?

Anyone?


The following links may be of interest -

Inquiry into sustainable cities
Sydney Metropolitan Strategy

If anyone has any other links that may be of interest (suitable for laypersons, of course), feel free to add them to the thread.

 

[banco55]

I think sydney's pretty screwed in the long term. If there had been some planning early on we could have made much more efficent use of the land. Plus everyone expects to live in a mcmansion so sydney will just continue to sprawl.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

The State Government's Official Plan for Sydney's Sustainable future in one simple diagram

 

[blue_chameleon]

Thanks to the state government of the last decade, infrastructure (as well as many other sections) in NSW has become run down and delapidated, and isnt anywehre near where it needs to be for successful planning be accomplished. Combined with exhuberant property prices and the belief that the new generation of buyers into the Sydney property market will never be able to pay off their own home, thus the introduction of cross-generational home loans, I would say the future for Sydney's residents looks fairly rocky.
I dont think that the Iemma government has any real chance of correcting infrastructure, and it will take a long time, and billions of dollars, for future state governments to accomplish this.
Why does the government need to be so caught up in achieving surplus budgets each year, when they are neglecting basic needs to do so. When people hear the Carr government mentioned, they dont say "yes, he did well because he achieved surpluses in the budget for 3 years in a row", its more along the lines of "well look at what the Carr government has neglected, and whats he has left us with".
Spend the money, stop creating nonsense taxes, and get the states bsic needs up to where they should be.
If people move into these new land releases and areas of growth, without sufficient services and roads/rail network, it wont matter how cheaps house and land packages are.

 

[banco55]

One of the more annoying aspects of Sydney's predicament is that Sydney's tax dollars massively subsidize the country bumpkins in NSW. If more of the revenue generated by sydney was spent on sydney there'd be less problems funding shit.

 

[Sarah]

So... There are many issues that may be discussed within this thread, so why don't we start with the State Government's approach to the Metropolitan Strategy and other notions of medium to long-term planning?

Anyone?

The following links may be of interest -

Inquiry into sustainable cities
Sydney Metropolitan Strategy

I haven't looked at the links or posted is the other threads but I think strategy planning for the long term is always going to be hampered by the public. When you have politicians and well known media figures attaching a numerical value heightened by shock language, it most likely results in a general backlash towards any proposal.

The public tend to see the short term costs exceeding long term gains instead of the other way around.

Of course, there are ideas which are just plain stupid to start off with.

 

[HotShot]

NSW is a shithole, the government is allowing the federal government to leach our taxes to be distributed to queensland and WA.

If i could i would move to queensland its the place to be,

 

[blue_chameleon]

NSW is a shithole, the government is allowing the federal government to leach our taxes to be distributed to queensland and WA.

If i could i would move to queensland its the place to be,

All you need to do is stay out of hospital up there. With the shortage of doctors and surgeons you could be waiting a while to get operated on. Dont forget property prices not that far away from Sydney figures.

But at least they have Dreamworld up there, and they are getting money from us.

 

[HotShot]

All you need to do is stay out of hospital up there. With the shortage of doctors and surgeons you could be waiting a while to get operated on. Dont forget property prices not that far away from Sydney figures.

But at least they have Dreamworld up there, and they are getting money from us.

shortages are in NSW too + transport is way too expensive + the services are worse than developing countries.

um, queensland shortages of doctores seem to be a nationwide problem.

 

[Enlightened_One]

One of the more annoying aspects of Sydney's predicament is that Sydney's tax dollars massively subsidize the country bumpkins in NSW. If more of the revenue generated by sydney was spent on sydney there'd be less problems funding shit.

Half the population of NSW (or more) live outside Sydney. I think you'll find that this state government has been the most Sydneycentric government yet. If funds that were wasted in Sydney were spent on rural areas for basic commodities then you would probably witness an increased flux of people moving out of Sydney.

 

[Generator]

Half the population of NSW (or more) live outside Sydney.

NSW (2003) - 6,682,053
Sydney (2003) - 4,198,543

 

[HotShot]

NSW (2003) - 6,682,053
Sydney (2003) - 4,198,543

well, nsw needs to fix this and starting fixing rite away. otherwise more and more ppl will go interstate. -no problem with this of course, but for all nsw lovers bad very bad.

 

[frog12986]

Extensive planning and procrastination is the entire problem. The bureaucracy are more concerned about deriving 'flow charts' and appeasing 'stakeholders' than actually implementing straight-forward, jargon free proposals. Department Directors, and those in the upper ranks of the public service are more worried about using 'managerial-speak' and retaining their positions than actually developing the gumption to do what is really needed for the people of NSW; that being quality, cost effective service delivery. The public sector is trying too hard to act as a pseudo private enterprise which is not viable and results in the poor delivery of service that is rife throughout most Government Departments. The public sector was derived and aptly named that for a very good reason. This problem started with Nick Greiner and has continued ever since...

Someone needs to commit to a massive shift in public sector attitude by removing all bureaucrats who use their fancy jargon and flow charts, and reward those who develop and speedily implement effective and realistic strategies for NSW and its services..

 

[ohne]

I think what disturbs me the most about Sydney's planning strategy at the moment is that not enough land on the fringe of the city is being released. There is plenty of land in the northwest around Rouse Hill and in the Southwest around Bringelly that should be released faster. The very high property prices in Sydney are partly a result of the government's failure to release enough land. I think there is a geographic limit to Sydney's spread, although I don't see any reason why urban development shouldn't be moving further west out to Camden, Richmond etc.

Another thing I think is that there is too much emphasis on new motorways better than heavy rail links. Rather than building the M7 and M4east I think it would be better to build a northwest rail line, plus a new one into the land release areas in the southwest. New raillines should be funded with private money, we do the same with toll roads, I don't see why rail should be deprived of money when it could also benefit.

 

[banco55]

I think what disturbs me the most about Sydney's planning strategy at the moment is that not enough land on the fringe of the city is being released. There is plenty of land in the northwest around Rouse Hill and in the Southwest around Bringelly that should be released faster. The very high property prices in Sydney are partly a result of the government's failure to release enough land. I think there is a geographic limit to Sydney's spread, although I don't see any reason why urban development shouldn't be moving further west out to Camden, Richmond etc.

Another thing I think is that there is too much emphasis on new motorways better than heavy rail links. Rather than building the M7 and M4east I think it would be better to build a northwest rail line, plus a new one into the land release areas in the southwest. New raillines should be funded with private money, we do the same with toll roads, I don't see why rail should be deprived of money when it could also benefit.

They should be building up not out. As long as everyone expects to live in a mcmansion there can be no serious planning.

 

[Generator]

They should be building up not out. As long as everyone expects to live in a mcmansion there can be no serious planning.

What is needed is a mix of low, medium and high density developments. Believe it or not, but serious planning can and does occur out in the suburbs, particularly in many of the newer developments. Also, the average size of the suburban lot has become smaller in recent years, and, given legislative requirements, many of the newer developments contain both medium and low density dwellings. Yes, there is too much conformity and not enough diversity within many of the new estates and the ever so slight shift towards community title by some developers is a bit of a worry, but the fact is that suburban planning is far more considered than it once was, and it continues to be improved with each passing development, too.

As much as this may pain some, there is a need to provide for a variety of housing forms. We cannot simply say that consolidation and greenfield higher density developments are the only way forward.

 

[Generator]

Sydney plan in jeopardy as expert panel axed