By David Jones | Public Affairs and Policy Manager, Business Sydney | Mob: 0448 285 996

 

Premier Chris Minns and his Planning Minister Paul Scully have a big decision to make in what to do with Sydney’s last remaining section of its once bustling working harbour at Glebe Island.

Business Sydney said the choice is whether to use this area adjacent to Anzac Bridge for housing or to keep it as much needed industrial land to serve our wonderful city.

It’s a difficult choice because it comes at a time when there is not only a housing crisis but also a growing shortage of industrial land,” said Business Sydney Executive Director Paul Nicolaou.

Business Sydney is listening to the experts. Around 40 per cent of the cement needed for home and general construction is landed by ship at Glebe Island.

Michael Kilgariff, CEO of Cement Concrete and Aggregates Australia, and David Bare, executive director of HIA NSW, both fear that closing it down would increase the cost of home construction and general construction, the last thing our city needs. And it would lead to thousands more big truck movements.

Business Sydney agrees that this area of working harbour needs to be retained, especially knowing that there is ample opportunity nearby for new housing by delivering the long promised redevelopment of Parramatta Road.

Mr Nicolaou said rejuvenating Parramatta Road could result in up to 35,000 new homes including catering for the needs of essential workers and affordable housing.

He said it was time to highlight the difficult choice the government needs to make to balance support for housing and industry in our great city.

Redevelopment of Parramatta Road was in line with Business Sydney’s “Three Roads Strategy” that also identified housing opportunities along Victoria Road and the Great Western Highway.

alt text of the image

David Jones --- Public Affairs Manager

David is a Walkley Award-winning journalist with a distinguished career spanning more than half a century in print, television and radio journalism, political and corporate affairs and high-level media relations including incident and issues management. Media Enquiries - David Jones M: 0448 285 996