THE Hawkesbury has been an ‘afterthought’ in Sydney’s future planning according to Member for Macquaire Susan Templeman, who is critical of some aspects of the forward planning documents currently being drawn up.
The Greater Sydney Commission, headed by Lucy Turnbull, wife of the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, has produced the draft Western City District Plan, a part of the draft Greater Sydney Region Plan.
The works are high level planning guides for federal and state governments as well as local councils in the future.
The Greater Sydney Commission says its view is for a future Sydney, split into three distinct cities, with metropolitan centres in the city, Parramatta and Penrith.
The Hawkesbury would belong to the western city, yet Ms Templeman was critical of some, but not all, aspects of the draft plan, saying the Hawkesbury was forgotten about in some regards.
“Planning for the Hawkesbury sometimes feels like an afterthought,” she told the Gazette, in an interview you can listen to above.
“My worry is that there is not a lot of attention given to the Hawkesbury in this plan, but the things are in there are good.”
Ms Templeman said she did not have any problems with what was said of the Hawkesbury in the plan, however, she was of the opinion there was not enough detail provided for the Hawkesbury, particularly given some of the issues the region faces.
She added that there was scent mention of the Hawkesbury River in the plan.
“I am a bit disappointed there is not a lot of mention of the Hawkesbury River. The river is the life blood of the Hawkesbury,” she said.
“There is tourism on the river, agriculture, business and recreation.”
Ms Templeman was also critical that the new airport at Badgerys Creek had received so much attention, as was worried it could eventually see Defence industries leave the Hawkesbury.
“There is a real danger that Defence industries will get sucked into this new place,” she said.
“We have a massive opportunity, we have a semi-industrial site there that we could build on with complimentary industries.
“What is good in this draft plan is it recognises the potential of the RAAF Base and how you can diversify that.”
However, it was not all bad according to Ms Templeman, who said for the most part, the plan for the Hawkesbury made sense.
She said the challenges faced by the Hawkesbury being a peri-urban council, a region with mixed rural and residential areas on the edge of a city, were properly explored.
“It does seem to make clear that the Hawkesbury is not about just continuing the urban sprawl, and that is something people do talk about a lot, keeping the distinct possibility of the Hawkesbury,” she said.
She also said that future tourism, particularly centered around heritage and eco-tourism, was identified as a potential key economic driver in the future for the region.
“Heritage is really key, I see it as the potential to really create a place that draws people to the Hawkesbury,” she said.
“[Heritage items] not just things you look at, they are actually things you can make money out of and you can create businesses and increase tourism.
“I look at Leura in the Blue Mountains which is choc-a-block every weekend and often during the week, and it is cute, but it doesn’t have the gems of history in its main street that we have, we just haven't maximised it.”
