Region. New UWS residential facilities open

UWS Vice-Chancellor Professor Janice Reid has officially openned a suite of new student residences, at the University of Western Sydney's Bankstown campus, which includes 35 additional furnished living spaces, a central laundry and a community room with a barbeque and outdoor entertaining area. Over the last seven years, UWS Residential Colleges have provided homes to over 5000 students across the Blacktown, Penrith, Campbelltown, Hawkesbury and Bankstown campuses. Student residences are being constructed at the Parramatta campus.

Parramatta. Wide Bay has strong result

Queensland-based community banker, Wide Bay Australia, which has its only NSW branch in Parramatta, has announced a strong result by posting a record after tax profit of $18.16 million, an increase of 13.11 per cent over the 2006/2007 year. “Most of our lending is sourced from our branch network particularly in Queensland, however with only one lending centre in Sydney and Melbourne the use of brokers in those States helps us to secure our lending targets,” said.MD, Ron Hancock. “Now that the acquisition of Mackay Permanent is completed, we intend to strongly focus on developing and strengthening the performances of our branches, both in lending and retail deposits.”

Parramatta. DAs continue to fall

Although the number of development applications received by Parramatta City Council increased slightly from 252, in the March quarter, to 304, in the June quarter, the development sector continued to remain low with 1269 applications received in 2007/08. “This is the third consecutive year where the number of applications received has fallen. The reduced number of development applications is impacting on revenue forecasts associated with application fees,” a council report said. The number. The number of DAs determined in the June quarter met expectations.