The City of Bunbury is creating a long-term plan for the city with an emphasis on water-based development and securing hundreds of millions in investment funding.
The City of Bunbury is creating a long-term plan for the city with an emphasis on water-based development and securing hundreds of millions in investment funding.
Both the state and the city own significant portions of waterfront land in Bunbury, which the city plans to sell to fund further development.
City of Bunbury executive manager of city development, Tony Brun, said the city historically had turned its back to the water, but that opportunities were now opening up to engage with the waterfront precinct.
Bunbury has held several workshops with locals, and has commissioned Cox Architects to translate aspirational statements of participants into pictures, including the often-contentious inclusion of high-rise buildings.
“By its nature, height on coastal areas is often contentious, but it hasn’t been – we are doing this redevelopment on a city wide scale and it will be extremely well planned,” he said.
“There will be nothing more than three storeys on the coast, but the city centre and outer harbour will have height.”
Mr Brun said there was a need for the federal, state and local governments to create some initial infrastructure but that once land was released it would lead to a revenue stream, which would, in turn, enable further development.
“The redevelopment might require a certain amount of pre-investment, but our early indications are that private industry is very interested,” he said. “We have certainly had a huge amount of interest from major investment funds.
“To date there has been a lot of confusion about what Bunbury is, and we want to renew the image that people have.
“This will hit the market at the right time, as investors are turning away from the eastern states and looking for places with good returns – hopefully we will have a pre-approved package we can present to them.”
Nine different precincts are identified in the Bunbury City Vision strategy, and Mr Brun said a business plan for each precinct would be created to ensure development would be economically viable.
As part of a $500,000 feasibility to plan for the transformation of Bunbury over the next 25 years, the city has appointed SGS Economics and Planning to undertake a study to forecast future growth for the local economy.
A key issue to be addressed in the report is future growth and the strategies that will be needed for Bunbury to generate long-term wealth-creating jobs.
The population in the city and surrounds is expected to increase from 50,000 residents now to more than 130,000 residents by 2031.
SGS director Sasha Lennon said the initial survey of Bunbury last week showed a city with a diverse and robust economy, with a number of drivers capable of fuelling sustainable economic prosperity.
“We will be looking closely at the continued expansion of existing industries but also determining what new industries will likely emerge to sustain and expand Bunbury’s economy going forward,” Ms Lennon said.
