The NSW Government has recently published a strategic plan for Sydney
The Sydney Plan sets the 20-year vision for how Sydney is going to grow. It aims to provide a clear roadmap for where homes, jobs and infrastructure need to go as the metropolitan population jumps from 5.3 million to 6.6 million people by 2046.
The Sydney Plan cover graphic shows a mix of housing, industry and transport across the city. It would be good to spot a bicycle! (Image: Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure)
What happened to the ‘Three Cities’ plan?
The Sydney Plan replaces the 2018 Greater Sydney Region Plan, which was developed by the previous administration.
Subtitled A Metropolis of Three Cities, this plan created a vision for Sydney with a harbour, river and parkland city. It is part of the reason why Parramatta has grown into the CBD it is today, and an airport will be opening in Bradfield next year.
However, the Three Cities was considered too conceptual. It was a strategic planner’s wish list rather than a comprehensive plan for growth. What’s more, important parts of the city did not fall into any of the cities.
For example, the Three Cities ignored the nationally significant ‘global arc’ jobs corridor that stretches from the Norwest Business Park and Macquarie University, through Epping and Chatswood to Mascot and Botany Bay.
The Sydney Plan aims to be more practical
The Sydney Plan organises the population into a distributed network of 40 ‘interconnected centres’, anchored by the Sydney and Parramatta CBDs as well as the new Bradfield City Centre.
The focus is making the best use of existing infrastructure to support housing and jobs growth.
Housing and employment will be rebalanced. The aim is to deliver more homes in the east and new jobs in the west, including around the airport and Aerotropolis. The plan has identified where 800,000 houses and 950,000 new jobs should go. Targets are broken down by council area.
A map showing areas slated for high housing and jobs growth (Image: Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure)
In a positive move, Plan brings together the Minns Government’s numerous housing reforms: the Transport Oriented Development Program, the Low- and Mid-Rise Housing Policy and the Infill Affordable Housing Bonus. These major changes to planning legislation aim to arrest the sprawl on Sydney’s fringes by increasing density near train stations and bus interchanges.
An important addition is the requirement for councils to maintain 30 years of feasible housing capacity through the Local Environment Plan (LEPs). What is distinct from past plans is the commitment to work with councils on these targets, rather than setting them for councils.
It is very encouraging that parks and open space are at the centre of future planning.
For the first time, there are public space benchmarks for rezonings. 95% of residents must be within a 5-minute walk (400m) of a local park of at least 3,000 sq.m. There is no change to the existing 40% tree canopy target for Sydney by 2046
What does the Sydney Plan offer for active transport?
Bicycle NSW regularly reminds governments that success of the Transport Oriented Development program is completely dependent on high-quality walking and cycling paths to connect residents to high-capacity public transport.
So we are pleased that the crucial role of walking and cycling for the development of dense but liveable neighbourhoods is discussed several times under the Connected and Liveable priorities.
Separated cycleways are also highlighted as key to a more vibrant Sydney in this great graphic!
The elements of a vibrant neighbourhood in Sydney (Image: Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure)
However, Bicycle NSW is concerned that existing and proposed regional cycleways, or the Strategic Cycleway Corridors, are not shown on the Sydney Plan maps, despite this being a recommendation in our submission on the draft Plan.
If existing and future cycleways are not deeply embedded in strategic plans, they will not be front-of-mind for stakeholders during the planning and delivery of developments. They will fall off everyone’s radar.
In addition, the 58 actions are generally silent on cycleways and active transport. The Plan lacks the teeth needed to achieve active transport outcomes.
There is a positive exception to this: the plan includes a new Blue-Green Grid Framework under Response 7: Grow and connect public open space.
What is the Blue-Green Grid?
The Blue-Green Grid is an interconnected network of open space corridors that links parks, reserves, waterways, wetlands, beaches and foreshores for active transport and recreation.
The Sydney Planners have reviewed the ambitious 2017 Sydney Green Grid and developed a new list of priority corridors.
There are strong actions in the Sydney Plan for both local and state governments to support implementation. Appendix H sets out the long-term vision for a cohesive network of 29 Blue-Green Grid corridors.
Three Priority 1 projects will be the focus for delivery over the next 3 years. The Duck River - Salt Pan Creek corridor is the top priority. This will link the Parramatta River with the Georges River via Parramatta and Bankstown. It will be a game changing project, providing a north-south cross-city active transport route on a corridor not served by public transport, connecting people in rapidly growing suburbs with open space and train or Metro stations.
An overview of Sydney’s future Blue-Green Grid corridors (Image: Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure)
Priority 2 corridors require further investigation and planning for delivery in the next 6 years. Priority 3 corridors are longer-term initiatives for strategic planning and local council implementation or preservation.
Despite the extended timeframes, Bicycle NSW generally agrees with the prioritisation of routes. However, it is a concern that several 'primary' corridors like the Upper Canal, the Prospect Pipeline or the Wolli Creek to Bardwell missing link, shown with blue dots, have no timeline or priority.
Blue-Green Grid infrastructure is very popular with politicians and the community
The Inner West GreenWay is an incredibly successful 6km walking and cycling path that opened in 2025. The GreenWay unlocked 7ha of previously fenced-off land for public use. It met complex engineering and heritage challenges with aplomb. The GreenWay provides an excellent case study of what can be achieved when landowners, government agencies and councils work together.
Analysis underway as part of Bicycle NSW’s new strategic advocacy plan Changing Gears will generate a number of additional priority blue-green grid links for us to collectively focus on in the lead up to the election.
We want more politicians to be cutting the ribbons on more GreenWays without a decades-long battle for funding and approvals.
The chasm between ambition and delivery
“While the Sydney Plan shows merit in some areas, it fails to address structural and legislative weaknesses to develop a strategically planned city,” says Bicycle NSW CEO Peter McLean.
“The Plan focuses on housing and employment which is very important but it doesn't properly commit to developing the infrastructure we need to support this growth. The hospitals, schools, sports facilities and childcare.”
Bicycle NSW’s submission on the draft Plan asked for more emphasis on delivery, with a requirement for all developments to explicitly include active transport links and other infrastructure that is needed to meet the stated outcomes.
Bicycle NSW CEO Peter McLean rides along the Inner West GreenWay on the opening day in December 2025 (Image: CycleSydney)
“Transport is the major missing gap. No significant new infrastructure is promised,” continues Peter McLean. “This is particularly obvious in and around the new Western Sydney International airport where passenger and freight movements will be almost exclusively serviced through roads.
“I don't think the NSW Government is accepting enough responsibility. For example, Response 12 is Align infrastructure to planned growth and an action is to develop best practice guidance for councils when planning for and providing local infrastructure.
“Many councils are actually doing a great job of this task. However, government then comes and throws in a state significant development that overrides council's strategic planning. it then looks like councils aren’t providing enough local infrastructure.
“There are many instances of this right across Sydney. One example is in Leppington Town Centre. Local infrastructure has been designed for around 25,000 people, but government increased the future population to 47,000. This isn't a terrible outcome right next to a train station but all the local facilities and amenities have been designed for half as many people.”
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