''It ain't funky and it's expensive'': one expert's view of why many workers don't move to western Sydney

Professor Edward Blakely, a commissioner with the Greater Sydney Commission, the overarching planning body for metropolitan development, said that the success of the commission’s plan – to make the region “liveable, loveable, and walkable” – would rest on its ability to attract and retain talented workers.

Speaking at a developer seminar in Bella Vista on Friday, Professor Blakely said that while jobs were being created in Sydney’s west and north-west in the past five years, “too many of them were in coffee shops”.

“We’re developing bright young people here, we need to keep them here,” he said.

“Diversity of jobs [is critical], we’re getting jobs here but too many of them are in coffee shops.”

Of the trained young professionals currently working in the region, very few chose to live there, Professor Blakely said. “They live in Surry Hills, they live in North Sydney. They don’t live in this district.”

Professor Edward Blakely, the Great Sydney Commission’s commissioner for the central west district. Photo: Supplied

The Greater Sydney Commission has designated the areas around Westmead and Blacktown as ‘health and education precincts’ under the plans, but in order for this plan to come to fruition developers would need to make the area a place where people wanted to live – to “compete” with the eastern and northern suburbs.

“If we really want jobs here in this district, we have to have the people living here,” Professor Blakely said.

“They don’t really live here for two reasons. One, it ain’t funky…and two, it’s expensive. So we’ve got to cure both of those problems.”

Professor Blakely said the implementation of the commission’s district plans, a blueprint for future residential and commercial development, as a “one-off opportunity” to get development in the region right.

The lack of integration between train stations and retail centres, and unused or under-utilised commercial space was two of the biggest issues preventing newly built apartments from being desirable places to live, he said.

“The worst thing I see every day going home is dead floorspace on that first floor. Let’s liven it up, we want a really connected city,” he said.

A snapshot of the major areas included in the Central West district plan. Photo: Greater Sydney Commission

“We’ve got lots of rail, but when you get out of the railway station, where do you go? How do you get there? Most of the places aren’t even walkable, so we’re going to put increased emphasis on that.”

The commission has established guidelines for amenities they would like to see in proximity to apartment buildings.

“Within 600 metres [of an apartment], we want the coffee shop. Within 800 metres we want the grocery stores and the like, the new junior grocery stores. So fitting grocery stores into those first-floor spaces makes sense.”

Professor Blakely said that he would like to see more offices and start-up ”incubators” integrated into mixed-use developments, citing examples in the US where up to 50 per cent of a building is used as office space and 50 per cent residential.

“When you’re planning your next building, think of the lower floors. Not as a retail centre, but what about as an innovation centre?” he told the audience at the CBRE event, the majority of whom were developers.

But Professor Blakely said it was not just new infrastructure that was needed to make the area a success.

“We have to be more creative with the existing infrastructure we have.”

This could be as simple as stemming traffic flow during off-peak hours to allow restaurants to expand their outdoor dining area onto the street – as is done in Italy.

And no matter how well-executed new precincts were, developers also needed to abandon stereotypes about affordable housing, and start focusing on it as a way to attract talent to the area.