Applications lodged with Parramatta Council

A development application has been lodged for the construction and operation of a boutique brewery, at the Port Bar Restaurant, at the Charles Street RiverCat wharf. An application has been lodged for alterations and additions to the lower ground floor of an existing warehouse for use as a hotel, at 279 Victoria Road.

Blacktown welcomes the saving of Nirimba

Blacktown City Council has welcomed the announcement by the University of Western Sydney that it is to retain its Nirimba campus and would relocate the UWSCollege, currently at Westmead, to the site. "The UWSCollege will operate from 2009 and provide access to thousands of local and international students who will be able to undertake diploma courses which will be accredited with first year degree status in some of the most popular courses", Mayor Leo Kelly said. UWS was looking to expand courses on offer in the future to include a suite of course subjects beyond those currently available at Nirimba.

Boeing staff at Bankstown areon strike

About 30 Boeing engineers and IT workers employed by Hawker de Havilland, a company owned by Boeing, and operating at Bankstown Airport, have walked off the job 48 hours over a pay dispute. The striking workers are responsible for certifying the quality of aircraft components for Boeing and Airbus.

Error holds up property sale in the CBD

The Department of Planning’s error in nominating a lot in Argyle Street, Parramatta, has caused a delay in a possible transfer of property and lodgment of a DA on the site, according to Parramatta City Council. Earlier this year, the NSW government’s Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation sold a 2579-square-metre vacant site opposite the bus-rail interchange and adjacent to Westfield, for $22 million to contractor and developer, St Helliers. The company plans to develop an 18,500-square-metre, A-grade office building with an end value of $100 million. Lot numbers 204 and 206 should have read 204 and 205. Council is preparing an amendment to the LEP. The company has a DA approval on a 28,500-square-metre site at Macquarie Park

Manufacturing Week was a 'success'

Some 1000 people attended the recent Western Sydney Manufacturing Week 2008. The Department of State and Regional Development said it was a “resounding success”. Manufacturing in the region is valued at $15.5 billion, contributes 19 per cent to the region’s GRP and employees about 112,000 people earning nearly $5 billion annually. The department’s Western Sydney Business Centre and the Greater Western Sydney Economic Development Board were joint partners of the week.

$240m spent so far on equine flu disaster

Some $240 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent mitigating losses and riding Australia of the equine influenza epidemic which escaped from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services’s Eastern Creek quarantine station, last August, and spread across NSW and Queensland. The severity of the enquiry conducted by former High Court Judge, Ian Callinan, is expected to have a bearing on taxpayer exposure to writs from horse industries alleging negligence at the station.

Interest in Kleins budget jeweller

Administrator Ferrier Hodgson said a number of parties have registered interest in the
The Australian-based, privately owned, budget jeweller, Kleins, which collapsed with debts of more than $20 million. The company, which has 150 franchisees the country including Western Sydney, New Zealand and South Africa, had a turnover to about $40 million.

Software firm relocates to Ryde

Software maker CA has relocated some 240 staff from premises in Artarmon and French’s Forest to a new local head office, in Ryde