Blue Mountains. Upgrade of' 'run down' estate

Up to 350 jobs could be created in the Blue Mountains after the federal government announced it would provide $3.5 million for a 22-hectare clean technology park. The funding will go towards council’s $5.8 million, environmentally-sensitive plan to upgrade the “run-down” Lawson Industrial Estate, and will be used to provide stormwater, electrical and telecommunications infrastructure as well as footpaths, cycleways and landscaping. The project was expected to support 100 local jobs during construction. “By improving the Lawson Industrial Estate, making it more attractive and more economical to establish an enterprise here, we at least open up the possibility that the estate can become a focus for not merely jobs but jobs in new and clean technologies,” said Member for Macquarie, Bob Debus, in the Blue Mountains Gazette. He said nearly 60 per cent of employed people living in the Blue Mountains worked outside the area.