The Outer Western Sydney Alliance brings together Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Penrith and Wollondilly. Its Chair, Penrith Mayor Cr Todd Carney, spoke to Chris Eddy of the Local Government News Roundup about what that recognition would need to deliver.

Here are the takeaways from the discussion.

Infrastructure, not just housing targets

Cr Carney said investment has too often been directed to a single centre, generally Parramatta, with the Western City then treated as done. He said outer western communities have gone without basic infrastructure across several governments.

He stressed that the gap is often in underlying services rather than headline projects. Water and sewerage were his main examples.

The Alliance says the region is expected to take 38 per cent of Sydney’s future population growth.

Penrith’s numbers

Cr Carney said Penrith has about 20,000 zoned properties, but fewer than half can be serviced with water, sewerage or electricity. By his estimate, that leaves more than 10,000 homes that cannot be built.

He said the same pattern repeats across Campbelltown, Liverpool and Wollondilly. “If you can’t turn on a light, you can’t build a home,” he said.

He also pointed to the pressure on Council’s own budget. Penrith’s asset base is about $4 billion and is predicted to reach about $9 billion, which Cr Carney said must be maintained and renewed largely from rates revenue.

Jobs land and the missing plan

On employment land, Cr Carney said Penrith has 5,000 hectares, only half of it serviced. He cited the Mamre Road precinct as an example of development arriving ahead of infrastructure. Hundreds of businesses have moved in, he said, with thousands of truck movements a day on a road built as a rural road that is only now being upgraded.

The Alliance’s release says only about 3.2 per cent of the region’s undeveloped employment land has both wastewater and B-Double road access.

Cr Carney said the State Government’s housing and jobs planning has no matching infrastructure plan. In his view, that leaves councils unable to tell where services will be delivered, and risks master planning that Sydney Water later cannot support.

He added that outer western households spend about $39,000 a year more on private car use than city residents, and said local jobs and the North-South rail link would ease that.

What success looks like

Cr Carney said the Alliance wants the State Government to acknowledge the constraints and set aside money in future budgets. He asked for support from both sides of politics, so delivery continues whatever the government of the day. He said the Alliance is realistic that catching up will take decades.

He put the region’s potential at about 120,000 homes. He described the Alliance’s relationship with the Government as constructive, but said development focus has shifted towards the east in recent years.

He also said growth looks different across the member councils. For the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury, he described it as tourism and traffic pressure rather than housing, and noted the new international airport will add more freight and traffic through those communities.

Listen to Cr Carney’s interview as part of episode #654 of the Local Government News Roundup (starts 11 minutes in).