Love affair with Sydney Harbour is 'cooling'

The corporate love affair with Sydney Harbour is cooling as businesses move their operations, and people, the Western Sydney, according to the University of Western Sydney. Professor Phillip O’Neill, director, of the UWS Urban Research Centre, in Parramatta. “Sydney has lagged behind other world cities in this process of back office development, large due to the charm of the harbour,” he said. The centre is analysing labour force changes in the region, identifying business expectations and looking at employment requirements 30 years down the track, in a project for the Western Sydney Regional Organisations of Councils (WSROC).

Sartor may drop controversial planning reform

Parramatta City Council’s interest in the Court of Appeal’s decision, expected next month, on whether it can compulsory acquire private property for its proposed $1.4 billion Civic Place project, will be heightened with a report in The Sydney Morning Herald. Following rising opposition, the paper said the Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, was expected to drop the controversial planning reform allowing state and local governments to acquire such properties to sell to developers.