Region. Food production lost

Sydney would lose about half its land used for fresh fruit and vegetable production immigration-linked urban sprawl, according to lead researcher, Jonathan Sobels, from Flinders University, in the 335-page Long-term Physical Implications of Net Overseas Migration: Australia in 2050 report. He said farms and public land would be consumed as bulging cities expanded. The National Institute of Labour Studies report finds that Sydney and Melbourne will each require more than 430,000 hectares of new land for housing if net overseas migration remains above 260,000 a year.

Region. Floods and population increases

Devastating floods are a reminder communities need to factor in land use changes and urban growth when planning for both droughts and floods, said Associate Professor Basant Maheshwar, a hydrologist at the University of Western Sydney. Population increases in the Western Sydney, and other peri-urban zones around Australia, will create challenges beyond increased demands for services and greater stress on local water catchments during times of drought, he said. For the past five years, Professor Maheshwari has been leading a team studying the water cycle and catchment area of South Creek, which has large tracts of undeveloped bush and farmland but is also an epicentre of massive urban growth. Almost 400,000 Sydneysiders live and work in the South Creek Catchment, which covers 625 square kilometres and stretches from Narellan in the south to Windsor in the north. In the next 25 to 30 years the population is expected to almost double.

North Ryde. Launch of Centre of Excellence

The CRC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Disorders (CCD) based at Macquarie University, will be officially launched on February 3, concentrating new world-class research into a range of brain and cognitive disorders.The centre will be multi-institutional, with nodes at Macquarie University, the University of Western Australia and the University of New South Wales. Keynote lectures will be given by world leaders in the field of cognitive science, Dr Douglas Cheyne, senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute at the University of Toronto and Professor Georgina Rippon from the School of Life & Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham.

Region. Free loop buses

The NSW Government will introduce free loop buses in Campbelltown and Liverpool from January 31. The shuttles will provide free transport links between key commuter destinations, including hospitals, transport hubs and shopping centres. The new buses are part of the Government’s Metropolitan Transport Plan to provide families with more transport options closer to home

Parramatta. Head of news at Cumberland

Trevor Seymour has been appointed head of news at News Limited’s Cumberland Courier Newspaper Group, based in Parramatta. With over two million readers each week, Cumberland Newspaper Group is the largest community newspaper group in NSW with 31 titles across Sydney, Central Coast and Lake Macquarie

Region. Pub group in receivership

Icon Hospitality Group, which owns pubs across Sydney, including the Ambarvale Tavern, Ambervale, El Toro Hotel & Motel, Warwick Farm and Uncle Bucks, St Marys, has fallen into receivership owing about $60 million to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Ferrier Hodgson has been appointed receivers and managers.