Penrith. 'Regional city of the future'

Penrith City Council has plans in place to design the “regional city of the future”. “While there appears to be a lack of development in the city, council’s people and places group manager, Roger Nethercote, said many areas had planning controls in place to encourage substantial development. Mr Nethercote said the plans tied in with the council and Penrith Business Alliance’s plans to create 40,000 new jobs and 25,000 new houses by 2031. These numbers were based on the previous state government’s Sydney Metropolitan Plan for Sydney 2036.

Penrith. Discussions sought with Premier

The Penrith Business Alliance said it has received a positive written response from the NSW Liberal-National Coalition which provides a robust framework for further dialogue with the new government on key issues facing Penrith as a regional city. PBA chairman, Paul Brennan, has written to the Premier O’Farrell and the local members seeking early meeting to progress a number of key development priorities published in a document prior to the elections to highlight five key issues that need to be addressed to grow Penrith.

Penrith Business plan unveiled

The Penrith Business Alliance (PBA) 2010-2011 Business Plan aims to create 40,000 additional jobs in Penrith by 2031, an 75 per cent increase in the total number of local jobs compared to 2006. Key industries or ones with potential growth are advanced manufacturing, transport and logistic, professional business services and health and wellbeing. About a third of new jobs are expected to develop in the health and community services sector, with one-in-five jobs to arise in the property and business services sector. Penrith City Council funds PBA for about $625,000 a year from a special rate.

Penrith. Government's plans for the city

The NSW Government’s new Metropolitan Transport Plan states:’We will work with local government to increase private sector investment and help expand Penrith as an administrative centre following the opening of NSW and Australian Government office sites. Connections between the Nepean River and the city centre will be improved as part of wider support for walking, pedestrian and bus links. We will develop the North Penrith defence site as an element of the city centre for business.”

Penrith. Challenges affecting economic growth

The challenges affecting Penrith’s economic growth include low local employment self sufficiency, post-school qualifications well below the Sydney average, infrastructure planning and delivery, particularly in new employment areas has stalled local industrial employment growth, and suburbs such as North St Marys, St Marys and Oxley Park recorded high unemployment rates. These issues were raised by the Penrith Business Alliance, in its submission to the NSW Government Western Sydney Jobs Summit, January.