THE online reaction to this newspaper’s call last week for the NSW Government to consider decentralisation to ease the pressure on Sydney house prices showed not everyone in Bathurst is convinced that growth is good.
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If the sample of people who commented on the opinion piece is considered to be representative of the larger Bathurst population, then this city needs to start building a moat.
Arguments against a bigger Bathurst varied, but fell generally into two camps: those who say Bathurst does not have the infrastructure, the services or the jobs to accommodate a much larger population; and those who say they moved to Bathurst because it was not a big, busy city with all the problems that a big, busy city brings.
The problem is that Bathurst, through a combination of good management and geographic luck, is already growing – and growing rapidly.
Leaving aside any possible NSW Government decentralisation, Bathurst is already forecast to grow to 50,000 people in the next 15 years – and a quick glimpse at the housing developments springing up on the city’s outskirts would indicate that figure might end up being conservative.
Unless Bathurst Regional Council has a radical change of policy and declares – as premier Bob Carr did with Sydney some years ago – that the city is full, Bathurst’s real challenge is going to be managing its growth, not trying to avoid it.
Bathurst might to have to fight for its infrastructure, but that won’t be anything new.
The current investment in the Great Western Highway upgrade at Kelso is an acknowledgement of Bathurst’s future needs, and the improvements to the Great Western Highway and Bells Line of Road through the Blue Mountains, though piecemeal, are also being made with an eye on better connections for the Central West with Sydney.
The Bathurst Bullet is not a train service worthy of a city of (potentially) 50,000, but its existence shows the power of lobbying and persistence.
Many said Bathurst would never have a return daily service to Sydney. Now the city has it, the next step will be to improve it – and it can be done.
The problem of rapid growth is a problem many regional cities would be happy to take off Bathurst’s hands.
Bathurst has got the growth. Now it’s up to the city to make the best use of it – for everyone.