The Eastern, GPOP and Western Economic Corridors are better connected and more competitive

Greater Sydney's Eastern Economic Corridor (refer to Figure 40) has high concentrations (agglomerations) of jobs with good road and public transport connectivity, which allow high levels of interaction between businesses and people. The economic benefits of the agglomeration of activities in this corridor are reflected in its contribution of two-thirds of the State’s economic growth over the 2015–16 financial year.

This Plan seeks to further strengthen the economic opportunities of this corridor and plan and develop a new Western Economic Corridor and the GPOP Economic Corridor.

The Eastern Economic Corridor

The well-connected Eastern Economic Corridor from Macquarie Park to Sydney Airport is of national significance and currently contains approximately 775,000 jobs. The major assets of the corridor include:

• Macquarie Park, Chatswood, St Leonards, the Harbour CBD including North Sydney, and the emerging Green Square
• four major university campuses, four principal referral hospitals and six of the nine office precincts in Greater Sydney
• Sydney Airport and Port Botany trade gateways
• major industrial areas of Artarmon, South Sydney and Marrickville which provide essential trades and services that support specialised economic activities.

A number of committed and potential transport infrastructure projects will improve accessibility between the well-established economic agglomerations along and near the corridor and significantly increase the size of the labour market which can access the corridor by public transport, boosting productivity. These transport infrastructure projects include the following:

• The committed Sydney Metro Northwest and Sydney Metro City & Southwest will extend the reach and capacity of the existing rail network to Rouse Hill and significantly enhance the accessibility to, and between, approximately a million jobs which will exist between Rouse Hill and Sydney Airport by 2036.
• The committed NorthConnex will, among other wider benefits to Greater Sydney, improve accessibility to Hornsby and the Central Coast.
• The committed CBD and South East Light Rail will improve connections to the health and education precinct at Randwick, and better connect it into the corridor.
• The potential Northern Beaches to Chatswood bus improvements will better connect the major new Northern Beaches Hospital at Frenchs Forest and the Northern Beaches with the corridor.
• A potential mass transit link from Parramatta to Epping would significantly improve the connection between Greater Sydney’s (and in fact Australia’s) two largest suburban centres of Macquarie Park and Greater Parramatta. 

In the Eastern Economic Corridor, economic activity is also being facilitated through the work of the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, UrbanGrowth NSW Development Corporation and Landcom in the following initiatives:

• Macquarie Park Urban Renewal Area, where the NSW Department of Planning and Environment is assessing opportunities for new community facilities, vibrant spaces and homes close to transport links and jobs
• St Leonards and Crows Nest, where the NSW Department of Planning and Environment is working with Lane Cove, North Sydney and Willoughby councils to undertake a strategic planning investigation of the St Leonards and Crows Nest Station Precinct
• Redfern to Eveleigh, where in November 2016, UrbanGrowth NSW Development Corporation released an Urban Transformation Strategy for approximately 50 hectares of government land in and around the rail corridor from Central to Erskineville Stations
• Green Square Town Centre Project, where Landcom is a major landowner within the town centre and the lead agency collaborating with key stakeholders on one of the most significant transformation programs in Greater Sydney.

The GPOP Economic Corridor

In 2016, the Greater Sydney Commission commenced work on its first Collaboration Area – Greater Parramatta and the Olympic Peninsula (GPOP) which involves councils and multiple State agencies co-creating a vision for GPOP. It is the first Collaboration Area where a growth infrastructure compact will be piloted (refer to Objective 2).

The October 2016 published vision for GPOP focused on four distinct quarters (refer to Figure 29):

• Parramatta CBD and Westmead health and education precinct
• Next Generation living from Camellia to Carlingford
• Essential Urban Services, Advanced Technology and Knowledge Sectors in Camellia, Rydalmere, Silverwater and Auburn
• Sydney Olympic Park Lifestyle super precinct.

The economic activities form a corridor from Westmead to Sydney Olympic Park (refer to Figure 40).

GPOP is integral to the vision of A Metropolis of Three Cities and the Central River City. The transformation of GPOP will assist in rebalancing opportunities across the Greater Sydney Region.

GPOP is envisaged to become Central City’s connected and unifying heart. Both the Parramatta Light Rail and the Sydney Metro West will be catalysts for realising this vision. New radial connections will also be essential.

Sydney Metro West has the potential to significantly enhance Greater Parramatta’s inter-city link with the Harbour CBD through improved journey times and frequency of service.

Improved transport connections within GPOP and to the nearby strategic centres would deliver the economic benefits of agglomeration including enhanced opportunities for business-to-business interactions and access to larger skilled labour pools. Transport connections have the potential to create a cluster of economic activity with up to 370,000 jobs within a 10–15 minute public transport catchment.

Equally important is the creation of high quality, new places for people to enjoy a more urban lifestyle. Parramatta CBD is the first of these.

The Greater Sydney Commission is providing a new platform for collaboration across State and local governments, businesses and the community in delivering the GPOP vision. A place-based approach to planning for the future in the most central part of Greater Sydney is core to this new way of working. Key focus areas are to:

• pilot a whole-of-government and placebased approach to new social and economic infrastructure to support city-scale growth in GPOP in the form of the growth infrastructure compact
• plan for the Parramatta Light Rail and the potential Sydney Metro West to enhance GPOP as a place for new business, housing choice, education, research, entertainment and tourism