Community Infrastructure is a combination of hard and soft infrastructure. Hard community infrastructure includes the buildings and spaces, and soft infrastructure includes the programs, services and networks that run from and often occur in these spaces.
This Draft Community Infrastructure Strategy is concerned with hard infrastructure that Council is primarily responsible for, or plays a role in delivering.
The development of the Draft Community Infrastructure Strategy has been ongoing since 2016, following the amalgamation of what is now the City of Parramatta Council local government area (LGA). Following amalgamation, Council conducted a comprehensive audit of its community assets and open spaces. From this we were able to identify gaps in community infrastructure in relation to current and future estimated population, future high growth areas, and community infrastructure provision now and in the future.
There are significant and exciting opportunities that come with growth, and well-managed growth leads to positive outcomes for the community.
When fast-paced growth is well supported by community infrastructure, it can significantly improve people’s access to the essential services and infrastructure they require to live well and reach their full potential. Ensuring quality community infrastructure is provided in our neighbourhoods can strengthen people’s sense of community and belonging.
The purpose of this strategy is to clearly identify and address our current and future communities’ infrastructure needs.
The City of Parramatta LGA is experiencing significant growth due to an increasing population and major investment in Parramatta to become Sydney’s second metropolitan city. A number of planned precincts in the City of Parramatta are set to experience high levels of growth to accommodate the expected increase in population. These precincts include: Camellia, Carter Street (Lidcombe), Epping, Granville (Parramatta Rd), Parramatta North, Sydney Olympic Park, Telopea, Wentworth Point and Westmead.
Council is also managing growth in other areas where urban renewal is occurring, such as Rydalmere, Melrose Park and the Parramatta CBD. These planned precincts and areas of urban renewal are referred to as ‘high growth areas’.
The document applies benchmarks from various industry sources and other leading councils and applies the findings of Council’s own research to develop and apply a recommended level of community infrastructure provision.
For more information on benchmarks used in the strategy, see pages 56-59 of the document.
The last section of the document from page 538 presents community infrastructure recommendations for the 12 high growth areas across the City of Parramatta. While not all suburbs within the LGA are considered high growth areas, you may live in or close to one of these locations. If you do not live in or near one of the high growth areas, there still may be plans for improvements to community infrastructure near you. You can review the asset chapters to see if community infrastructure is planned for in or around your suburb.
The Draft Community Infrastructure Strategy is not a plan designed to sell Council assets.
The aim of the draft strategy is to improve the access, quality and availability of community infrastructure throughout the City of Parramatta LGA, to support our existing and future population.
Available land in the City of Parramatta LGA is scarce, consequently Council may consider innovative solutions that could involve land swaps, selling one land parcel or asset to fund purchase of another, or partnering with government or the private sector to access land for community infrastructure.
Not all areas across the City of Parramatta are experiencing significant population growth. For example, some lower density areas, such as Winston Hills, are not going to experience significant change.
We know the current provision of infrastructure in some locations is adequate to meet the needs of the community but in others, there is already a gap at current population levels. The draft strategy prioritises the upgrade and/or increased provision of community infrastructure in locations that are experiencing high growth and for communities who are most in need.
Implementation of all the recommendations in the Draft Community Infrastructure Strategy is envisaged to continue over the next 20 years. Some projects are small and easy to deliver; others are large and will require the collection of developer contributions and significant planning and consultation before they can commence.
The funding of recommendations in the Draft Community Infrastructure Strategy will require a variety of funding sources. Page 72 of the document outlines Council’s plan to fund the items identified in this draft strategy.
Submissions have now closed for the Draft Community Infrastructure Strategy.
Thank you for your participation, we are currently reviewing your feedback and will keep you updated.
For more information please email cis@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au
On completion of the exhibition on 11 November 2019, the feedback received will be reviewed and is anticipated to be presented to Council in the coming months for endorsement. The report will outline community feedback, identify any changes that should be made to the draft strategy as a result of the feedback and seek Council’s endorsement.
If you have any questions, please email cis@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au
Once we have finished analysing the submissions and ensuring your feedback has been taken into consideration, the Community Infrastructure Strategy is anticipated to be presented to Council in the coming months for endorsement.
We will provide you with an update on this page once we are able to provide more information.
Thank you for providing feedback on the revised draft Community Infrastructure Strategy, which was open to the community for feedback from 30 September to 1 November 2019. Council asked what you thought of the priority areas, and if there was anything missing from the plan.
Over the past few weeks, we have been busy collating and analysing all of your feedback. We received a high number of responses to this consultation with 298 surveys completed and 12 submissions sent to the project team.
