The month in review: Regional NSW
By Herron Todd White
November, 2009
DUBBO
Thursday 21st October 2009 saw the opening of Dubbo’s
second McDonalds Restaurant in spite of protests from
some parents in West Dubbo. The store is located on the
Newell Highway in West Dubbo and backs onto the West
Dubbo Primary School.
Initially the development saw strong opposition from
parents with children at the school and resulted in
McDonald’s Australia boss Catriona Noble offering to
help prevent children leaving school during big lunch.“The last thing we want is kids to scramble around the
fence (to go to McDonald’s) so if any kids in uniform from
primary school come in we won’t serve them in school
hours,” she said.
The $1.45 million store is set to employ more than 100
staff and provide weary travellers the opportunity to stop
before entering Dubbo’s CBD.
A development application for the proposed $20 million
neighbourhood shopping centre in West Dubbo located
in Delroy Park Estate was approved at Dubbo City Council
in 2009.
There is a definite need for the shopping centre to service
this rapidly growing area which is set to include a large
Woolworth’s supermarket, a medical centre and 16
specialty stores and employ 225 staff.
At present the closest available shopping is located on
Victoria Street in West Dubbo where the IGA Supermarket,
local bakery, chemist, butchers, newsagency and takeaway
shops are set in a traditional strip shopping style. There
are concerns this area may be negatively impacted with
reduction in trade.
Traditionally major developments of this nature have
been located in Dubbo’s CBD or east of the Macquarie
River and in spite of negatives raised, is viewed as a ‘win”
for West Dubbo residents and Dubbo as a whole.
MUDGEE
Mudgee is a relatively small town of about 10,000 people.
Major projects such as transport are limited because the
demand of this style of project is not required.
However some smaller projects have occurred over the
last few months which are worth noting. Aldi supermarket
has been open for business for the last 6 to 7 seven months
and appears to be doing well. Some smaller chain outlets
such as Eagle boys pizza have been new additions to the
Mudgee CBD in recent months.
The biggest project in the Mudgee area is the new
Moolarben coal mine which took its first intake of
workers this month. When at full capacity the mine will
be employing over 400 workers. This will have a positive
impact on the local economy.
With this increase in the local workforce, the residential
market should go from strength to strength. I see new
homes or renovated homes in the middle price bracket
performing the best. The average coal miner in the
Mudgee area earns a base salary of about $80,000 plus
overtime which can lead to pay packets of over $100,000.
Because they are shift workers, and would be looking at
homes which they can move straight in to and not have
to do any upgrades etc.
Overall Mudgee is travelling along nicely.
BATHURST
The main and notable infrastructure issue of present is
the proposed closing down of several large transport
depots in the area. This includes a large rail to road
depot in Blayney along with a couple of large yards in
both Bathurst and Orange. This has the potential to have
somewhere between 10 – 50 staff on the unemployment
lines depending on how many depots close and how
many are able to get away with “scaling down”.
Other than that the Bathurst – Orange region has had in
recent years has quite a few large projects carried out,
including the extension and renovation of the Bathurst
Base Hospital which is still ironing out some serious
teething issues after having been opened/completed in
2008. The construction of a significant extension to the
Bloomfield public hospital in Orange, approximately 60%
complete, upon completion will increase the availability
of health services to the general region.
Orange City Council has also in the past year or so
designed and installed a storm water harvesting plant
to help with water supply problems that they have. This
system has received numerous local and national awards
from various water authorities for the simplicity and
effectiveness of the harvesting process.
WAGGAWAGGA
The City of Wagga Wagga is part of the Murrumbidgee
region in the New South Wales Riverina district. Wagga
Wagga is a key industry and administration centre for the
wider region and provides a wide range of community
and cultural services and infrastructure. In recent years,
Wagga Wagga has grown to become one of the largest
inland cities of regional Australia and has a unique
combination of established industry and existing
infrastructure which enable future growth. This is also
reflected within property values. Wagga Wagga has seen
health property grown in recent years and a strong rental
market due an increasing demand for rental properties.
Wagga Wagga has a growing population of over 65,000.
Over the past five years, the population of Wagga Wagga
has grown at a faster rate than New South Wales and is
projected to increase by a further 7,731 persons over the
next 15 years. Wagga Wagga has a diverse employment
base including strengths in services, defence,
manufacturing and agriculture.
Wagga Wagga has a number of infrastructure projects
which are supporting ongoing population and industry
growth in the area including:
• Expanding of the RAAF base at Wagga Wagga airport,
Forest Hill.
• Expanding of the university veterinary school at Charles
Sturt University (SCU).
• Ongoing upgrades and bypass to the Hume Highway,
joining Sydney and Melbourne.
• Expansions of suburban shopping centers in Glenfield
Park and Forest Hill
• A new industrial waste water treatment facility located
at the Bomen Business Park to handle additional
industry needs.
• Upgrades to internet broadband services to the region
with a new major fibre optic cable running directly
through Wagga Wagga.
These infrastructure projects are creating job
opportunities within the region, coupled with one of
the most severe droughts in decades in the region, is
attracting more people to take up residence within Wagga
Wagga. This is driving an up swing in the lower to middle
range property price, particularly attractive to first home
buyers. This has also put pressure on the rental market
with a growing population and less available stock. Many
investment properties have been placed on the market
to take advantage of this up swing. The top end of the
market has been relatively static, not at all surprising
given the global pressures on financial markets.
LEETON
There are no major infrastructure projects on the horizon
which will have any real benefit to our residential
property markets in the short term. Infrastructure
spending throughout the region has concentrated on
smaller projects and maintenance of existing facilities.
Parks and sporting and recreation facilities have been
given upgrades and schools are set to benefit from a
cash splash but spending on these items has not been
substantial enough to sustain employment losses from
our agriculturallly focused economy.
If the government wish to make a contribution to
expansion and real recovery rather than survival, I would
suggest the largest contribution to be made would be to
sort out the water sharing plan sooner, rather than later.
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