Blacktown’s growth needs careful planning and the Greater Sydney Commission’s approach is a breath of fresh air, Blacktown Mayor Stephen Bali said.

“Being part of an overarching plan and not a planner’s afterthought is an important change of approach, “he said.

“The Greater Sydney Commission has produced a very high quality plan in a relatively short period of time, yet has found the time to collaborate with Blacktown to ensure the planning is right.

‘There is a lesson for others to learn from this and Blacktown City Council looks forward to continued collaboration with the Greater Sydney Commission to ensure Blacktown has the services it needs to meet future growth.

“Chief Commissioner Lucy Turnbull and her team are to be congratulated on their approach and we will watch its implementation with some eagerness.

“We call for a long term infrastructure plan with an annual implementation review.

It is essential that there is active oversight to make sure the infrastructure plans are implemented and not put on the back burner.

Mayor Bali said that the provision of jobs in Western Sydney, the need to provide more railway stations, and create a series of “mini cities” is vital.

“When you look at where the railway stations are in Western Sydney, they mostly are the ones that were built when the rail line went through in the 1800s.

“But a modern city needs something better than the infrastructure that was designed for half the population we have now.

“We support the concept of an Annual Infrastructure Priority List and know it will bring benefits to Blacktown.

“Blacktown will soon be a city of half a million and the work on making sure it will be a liveable city needs to start now.

“We are glad there is now a very clear focus on what should be taking place to make sure Western Sydney is able to reach its full potential.