The Six Cities Region comprises the Lower Hunter and Greater Newcastle City, Central Coast City, Illawarra-Shoalhaven City, Western Parkland City, Central River City and Eastern Harbour City.

The Greater Cities Commission prepares land use plans for the Six Cities Region as a whole, as well as each of the cities. Their role is to align the planning that will shape liveable, productive and sustainable cities, accelerate the delivery of key innovation precincts, lead discussion on major city-shaping issues, create jobs close to where people live, and attract world-class industry and talent.

Our people’s involvement

• Led the development of short (0-5 years), medium (6-10 years) and long-term (11+ years) infrastructure priorities to unlock planned growth in housing and commercial space in each of the six cities, as an input to the Six Cities Region Plans

• Reviewed infrastructure plans across all levels of government (local, state and national) and sectors (transport, education, health, water, energy and cultural infrastructure) to develop a long list of infrastructure pipeline projects

• Recorded key project information in a master spreadsheet, including: growth area, precinct, housing forecasts (5, 10 and 15-year), zoning status (not, partial or rezoned), precinct type (greenfield, brownfield), agency, infrastructure sector, infrastructure type, dependencies, project stage (strategy, planning, development, delivery, construction), funding status (unfunded, committed/partial funding, funded), delivery timeframe, cost and growth infrastructure classification

• Developed indicative minimum thresholds regarding the scale (>$100M) and types of infrastructure that would typically unlock housing growth, considering both supply side factors (e.g., capacity to justify changes to planning controls) and demand-side factors (e.g., improvements to accessibility and amenity)

• Rated projects in terms of their dwelling (low, medium, high) and job (low, medium, high) impacts considering planned growth and infrastructure/land use dependence (i.e., whether growth is supported, enabled or catalysed).

• Combined project delivery timeframes, land use ratings and housing projections to develop infrastructure shortlists by city

Key achievements and value-add

• Worked closely and iteratively with senior members of the Greater Cities Commission, dealing with uncertainty and complexity to meet tight deadlines for the Six Cities Region Plans

• Adapted to urgently provide input into parallel NSW Treasury processes including priorities for Housing Accord precincts

• Piloted approach in Central River City to receive early feedback that could be replicated in other cities, avoiding rework/delays. Gained stakeholder buy-in by clearly documenting the approach and rationale for short-listing and present key stakeholder groups including Transport for NSW and the City Plan leads.

• Identified an initial long list of 350 infrastructure projects mapped to priority growth precincts, including a gap analysis where there were housing forecasts but no infrastructure projects.

• Short-listed to 40 medium-term (6-10 years) and 40 longer-term (11+ years) infrastructure projects with either medium or high land use ratings. This enabled a focus on land use outcomes (particularly housing) and those infrastructure projects which need to commence business cases (medium-term) or corridor reservation (longer-term)