Tag Archives: Strategic Planning

You call that an amalgamation? THIS is an amalgamation!

Recently I was involved in a project undertaken by the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government, studying examples of amalgamations and other forms of council consolidation across Australia and New Zealand. The largest amalgamation we looked had around 320,000 … Continue reading

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Toll-road lessons from the “Clem7 lemon”

Recent news that Brisbane’s Clem Jones* (Clem7) road tunnel which opened only a few months ago is now on the verge of financial collapse has a familiar ring, confirming a pattern of losses in a string of privately-owned toll roads and … Continue reading

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Sydney, population growth – and the rise of “mega-councils” (part 4)

In this post I’ll try to put the “mega-councils” story in the broader context of Sydney’s forecast population growth by looking at population increases growth rates rather than the resulting  size of the councils themselves, though obviously there is a … Continue reading

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Sydney, population growth – and the rise of “mega-councils” (part 3 – Greater Western Sydney)

Given the current interest in population growth, in the third of my articles I’ll take a look at forecast population growth in Greater Western Sydney councils. To reiterate, the projections I’m discussing are based on forecasts released by the NSW … Continue reading

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Sydney, population growth – and the rise of “mega-councils” (part 2)

Given the current obvious interest in “Big Australia”, big cities and all things to do with population I thought I’d take a further look at the so-called “mega-councils” of Sydney’s future that I identified in my last post. To reiterate, … Continue reading

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Sydney, population growth – and the rise of “mega-councils”

If you were told that by 2036 the number of councils in Sydney with populations of more than 200,000 would be seven times the number today, you might be forgiven for thinking that these forecasts were based on some fairly … Continue reading

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Sydney transport inquiry – final report released

Well, it’s out. The final report of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Independent Public Inquiry into Sydney’s public transport, chaired by Mr Ron Christie, was published by the Herald earlier this week. The report follows the release of the Preliminary Report … Continue reading

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Paul Mees puts the case for better-connected public transport

On today’s ABC National’s Public Interest (Sunday 2 May), Dr Paul Mees, a well-known Melbourne-based transport expert,  makes one of the most eloquent summaries of the case for a better-planned, better-managed and better-connected public transport system that I have ever heard. … Continue reading

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Transport Public Inquiry final report nears completion

A lot has happened since the SMH Transport Inquiry released its preliminary report in February. Shortly after its release the State Government announced that it was dumping the CBD and West Metros, aspects of which were criticised in the Inquiry … Continue reading

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Western Sydney a winner in Transport Inquiry interim report

In my last post I outlined the governance arrangements outlined in the interim report of the Independent Public Inquiry into Sydney’s public transport which I had a small role in developing. Now I’d like to summarise the Inquiry’s proposals for … Continue reading

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