- To strengthen the Illawarra’s economy, underutilised industrial land should be unlocked to create 3,179 jobs across the region and improve its global reach.
- Demand drivers and opportunities considering land use pressure in Sydney, include eCommerce demand, innovation and technology economy, strong import growth and access to infrastructure and skilled workers.
- A number of recommendations are outlined including the need for long term planning for industrial lands, streamlining of planning process and a coordinated approach between industry and government facilitate redevelopment and delivery of infrastructure.
New research Industrial Land in the Illawarra commissioned by the Property Council of Australia and conducted by Urbis was released today, which has shown that unlocking underutilised industrial land has the potential to create 3,179 jobs across the region and improve its global reach.
The research outlines demand drivers and mega trends for industrial land use, as well as opportunities for the region given land use pressures in Sydney, including the demand for eCommerce, technology, strong import growth and access to infrastructure and skilled workers.
The Illawarra’s economy continues to evolve, with sectors such knowledge services, advanced manufacturing, and trade and logistics identified as emerging sectors in the local economy and the potential to attract further investment in the region and provide more local jobs.
The Port at Port Kembla was also identified as a very important economic asset, which is a global gateway for Greater Sydney and southern NSW. With the port diversifying its trade in recent years, the report recognises the importance of unlocking further economic opportunities at the Port.
Long term planning, a coordinated approach to facilitating redevelopment and delivery of infrastructure and services for underutilised land through partnerships with industry, as well as the streamlining of planning processes at a local and state level have been identified as key actions.
Other key recommendations from the Industrial Lands report include:
- Fast tracking of infrastructure such as the Mt Ousley Interchange, expansion of Port Kembla, Maldon-Dombarton freight line and exploring the benefits of the M9 Outer Sydney Orbital.
- Provide support for major industrial institutions to invest in regional locations and explore incentive measures and assess the burden of development costs in attracting investment.
- Protect large parcels of industrially zoned land from fragmentation, revise allowable uses to allow business innovation and streamline the planning application process for industry.
- Ensure coordinated and integrated management of industrial land supply and performance.
The Property Council will continue to work closely with government and industry stakeholders in the region over the next few months to examine the findings and discuss possible initiatives that can be implemented to unlock major parcels of industrially zoned land to attract investment and local jobs.
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