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Q: What is the Metropolitan Strategy?
The Metropolitan Strategy is a broad framework to secure Sydney's place in the global economy by promoting and managing growth. It is a strategic document that outlines a vision for Sydney over the next 25 years – the challenges, and the directions to address these challenges and achieve the vision. It is also the start of a process to bring the State Government, local government, stakeholders and the community together to discuss, review and then make decisions to guide the future of Sydney's economy, environment and communities. More detailed planning will follow via Regional Strategies and Subregional Strategies. The Metropolitan Strategy City of Cities: A Plan for Sydney's Future was released in December 2005. 
Q: Why does Sydney need a Metropolitan Strategy?
Sydney is a great city and the Government needs to plan for the future to ensure it stays that way, not just now but well into the future. As Australia's only global city, it is the financial capital, generating 23 per cent of the nation's value added wealth. It is Australia's largest regional economy, comparable in size to Singapore's and larger than New Zealand's. The NSW Government is planning for an additional 1.1 million residents in Sydney by 2031. This will require 640,000 new homes and 500,000 new jobs. This growth must be sustainable. The Metropolitan Strategy is planning for a future Sydney in which 30 to 40 per cent of new housing is developed in new land release areas, with the remaining 60 to 70 per cent to be accommodated in Sydney’s existing areas.
Q: What areas does it cover?
The Greater Metropolitan Region (GMR) of Sydney extends from the lower Hunter in the north to the Illawarra region in the South and west to the Blue Mountains. City of Cities, while covering all of the GMR, concentrates on local government areas within the Sydney Region and links closely to Regional Strategies for the Central Coast, Illawarra, and Lower Hunter. The local government areas included in City of Cities are: | Ashfield | Canterbury | Lane Cove | Randwick | Auburn
| City of Sydney
| Leichhardt | Rockdale | Bankstown
| Fairfield
| Liverpool
| Ryde
| Baulkham Hills
| Hawkesbury
| Manly
| Strathfield | Blacktown
| Holroyd
| Marrickville
| Sutherland
| Blue Mountains
| Hornsby
| Mosman
| Warringah
| Botany Bay
| Hunters Hill
| North Sydney
| Waverley
| Burwood
| Hurstville
| Parramatta
| Willoughby
| Camden
| Kogarah
| Penrith | Wollondilly
| Campbelltown
| Ku-ring-gai
| Pittwater
| Woollahra
| | Canada Bay |
Q: How will the Metropolitan Strategy benefit Sydney?
Sydney is Australia's premier global city, its economic powerhouse. It is a magnet for industry and commerce and is experiencing strong population growth. Sydney and the Greater Metropolitan Region will continue to grow and change. Of prime importance is a strategy which ensures the Sydney of the future is both liveable and sustainable. For this reason, the Metropolitan Strategy establishes a vision of how Sydneysiders want to live in the future and defines policies and develops specific proposals to meet the challenges created by growth and change. The Metropolitan Strategy is at the centre of the State Government's commitment to create solutions to improve Sydney's competitiveness, liveability and sustainability. Q: What issues does it cover?
The Metropolitan Strategy and draft Subregional Strategies (yet to be released) are divided into seven key strategies: - Employment and Economy
- Centres and Corridors
- Housing
- Transport
- Environment and Resources
- Parks and Public Places
- Implementation and Governance
Fact sheets highlighting the key actions in these areas can be downloaded from the Documents tab.
Q: Does the Metropolitan Strategy cover big ticket infrastructure items?
The Metropolitan Strategy outlines some infrastructure projects and works alongside the State Infrastructure Strategy which sets out the Government's priorities for major infrastructure expenditure between 2006-07 to 2015-16. The State Infrastructure Strategy links the four year Budget cycle with the Metropolitan Strategy and Regional Strategies.
Q: How will the Metropolitan Strategy fit into other planning instruments?
City of Cities is concerned with issues that have relevance across the entire Sydney Region and sets out solutions that transcend local government boundaries.
The Strategy has different impacts on the planning instruments and governance arrangements used throughout the GMR: - Policy: It helps establish policy to inform the making of Regional Environmental Plans (REPs), State Environmental Planning Policies (SEPPs) and Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) in the Sydney Region.
- Priorities: It informs the State Budget, State Infrastructure Strategy , State Plan, and State agency Total Asset Management Strategies.
- Implementation: The Metropolitan Strategy will be implemented via subregional planning, an intermediate step in translating the Metropolitan Strategy into strategies for the 10 subregions of Sydney.
Q: What is the role of local government in the Metropolitan Strategy?
Local government is a key stakeholder in the development and implementation of the Strategy. Strong partnerships between State Government and local government will help meet the challenges of accommodating future growth in a way that brings benefits to the community. The key mechanism for implementing the Metropolitan Strategy is subregional planning, which has required significant work between the State Government and local government. The Department of Planning first met with the subregional groupings of local councils in the week after the release of City of Cities in December 2005. A number of rounds of workshops were held in 2006 and local government input will be sought in the lead up to the release, and during the exhibition of, each of the draft Strategies, which is expected in 2007. Through the workshops, the Department of Planning has received feedback from councils on the definition of centres in their own areas – from Major Centres such as Bondi Junction or Chatswood, down to Neighbourhoods or Villages such as Pagewood or Telopea. Q: What is subregional planning?
Subregional planning will interpret the objectives and actions of City of Cities at a finer grain. It provides a framework for groupings of local councils to coordinate their planning, inform local and state infrastructure planning and funding, and manage issues such as employment and housing growth, open space networks and biodiversity. Draft Subregional Strategies will define the vision for the ten metropolitan subregions, and the roles of every centre in each subregion. They will translate metropolitan region housing and employment objectives and capacity targets into a local level and ultimately into councils’ Principal Local Environmental Plans (LEPs). They will also provide certainty and useful information to the community, by broadly defining likely long-term housing and employment growth areas. The objectives of the draft Subregional Strategies are based on 25 year housing and employment capacity targets identified in City of Cities. Q: How were the subregions defined?
Each of the ten subregions combine local government areas which face similar issues and challenges when planning for growth and managing change. The subregions are grouped according to particular transport routes, natural features, and patterns of employment and retail activity, all of which are important factors in the way people use their area. Q: How were housing and employment targets defined in City of Cities for the subregions?
Employment capacity targets are partially trend-based, and are also influenced by Government policy. The subregional employment targets have been distributed based on Metropolitan Strategy objectives such as ensuring half of all new jobs are able to be provided in Western Sydney, the provision of fair access to jobs, the need to ensure up to two-thirds of all jobs are in strategic centres or employment lands, and the need to concentrate both jobs and housing in centres within easy access to transport. Housing targets have been developed using population forecasts, and demand and supply analysis provided through the Metropolitan Development Program (MDP). The MDP monitors housing development using data provided by local government and the development industry and can provide quality housing projections over the mid to long term. The housing targets build on existing MDP data and also consider Metropolitan Strategy aims such as a greater diversity of housing types, the need to concentrate housing within transport nodes, the areas of Sydney with capacity for new housing, and the distribution of new housing between greenfield areas (30 to 40 per cent) and existing areas (60 to 70 per cent) over the next 25 years. The subregional housing and employment capacity targets identified in City of Cities will inform the draft Subregional Strategies. Q: What public consultation will take place?
Each draft Subregional Strategy will be placed on exhibition, and will be able to be viewed at local councils or at the Department of Planning Information Centre and will be available on the Metropolitan Strategy website at www.metrostrategy.nsw.gov.au. If you wish to ensure you are notified of the release of each of the draft Subregional Strategies, please register for the Department of Planning's e-news. The Government will welcome feedback on the draft Subregional Strategies from the community, stakeholders, local government and industry. Details of how to make a submission on each draft Subregional Strategy will be provided at release time. Q: What else is happening in the implementation of the Metropolitan Strategy City of Cities: A Plan for Sydney's Future?
Although the Metropolitan Strategy plans for a 25 year period, around 80 per cent of the 231 actions in the Strategy have already been initiated, and some have already been completed. You can keep up to date with all Metropolitan Strategy actions by subscribing to the Department of Planning's e-news.
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