Illawarra Chapter Committee
The Illawarra Chapter Committee met for the first time this year on Thursday 16th March and has some exciting projects to work on during the year. Three new working groups have been formed to focus on our key priorities;
- Affordable housing: Led by Jennifer Macquarie, this sub-committee is focusing on getting a research project up and running that will focus on how local government can tweak planning controls and their land holdings to encourage the development of affordable housing projects. We are also looking to run a workshop with the Illawarra Forum to ‘develop a plan in a day’ to look at a real project.
- Illawarra Vision project: Led by Tania Brown, this sub-committee will develop a position paper to set out a clear vision and key priorities for the Illawarra region.
- Urban densification: Led by David Laing, this sub-committee is aiming to educate media, politicians and communities on where there is capacity for greater density due to existing and planned infrastructure. The focus will be outside of the Wollongong CBD.
The first meeting also heard from Andrew Fletcher, Regional Director of the Hunter Chapter of the Property Council of Australia. Andrew provided the Committee with an overview of the successful Revitalising Newcastle Campaign. Finally, Daniela Vujic from NSW Ports spoke about the references to the Illawarra in the Greater Sydney Commission’s draft South West Sydney district plan. The draft plans are available for consultation and submissions are due by 31st March 2017 http://greater.sydney/south-west-district.
Illawarra Events
The Illawarra Chapter is hosting an event from 4 to 6pm on Thursday 20th April to help celebrate local nominees in the Property Council of Australia Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation & Excellence Awards. They are:
- Frasers Property – up for the Best Residential Development award for its development at Shellcove.
- IRT – nominated for Best Development Innovation for Kemira at IRT William Beach Gardens.
- Stockland – one of the finalists in the Best Sustainable Development, Existing Building category for Stockland Shellharbour.
Cruise ships in Wollongong
Photo by: Dee Kramer
When a Cruise ship comes into Port Kembla it is estimated to bring an economic benefit of $935,000 to the region. And, in particular, the mega liners inject approximately $392,000 into local retail according to Mark Sleigh, General Manager of Destination Wollongong.
Sydney harbour has reached absolute capacity. In great news for the Illawarra, Port Kembla is set up and ready to go.
The cruise season in Australia is from October to March/April with a number of ships already contracted to come to Port Kembla next season.
Currently, those ships are berthing for short excursions or day trips, but it is hoped that Port Kembla will become a ‘Turnaround Port’.
“What we’re talking about here in Wollongong is potentially turning into a turnaround port. We’re talking about turning over 00 people instead of 20 people each time the actual ship comes in” said Mr Sleigh.
The other exciting part about being a turnaround port is we can provide something Sydney can’t and that’s the opportunity for long term parking. Domestic cruisers are catching public transport or getting dropped off at the Overseas Passenger Terminal.
What we could do is create an environment very similar to Blue Emu at the Sydney airport where you park, you get your shuttle bus over to the ship, you go for your cruise and your car is ready there for you to go. That’s something that’s never going to be achievable in Sydney Harbour but it’s certainly achievable in Wollongong immediately.
Photo by: Dee Kramer