Build it and they will come is philosophy around Bradfield
Government is confident people will gravitate to the new town situated near the Western Sydney airport.
A new suburb built from scratch in a remote field is well placed to attract workers, businesses and high-income jobs, according to its proponents.
Bradfield, described as Australia’s first new city in 100 years, will welcome residents from 2029 to homes within five kilometres of Western Sydney Airport, which is expected to open later this year.
Planning has focused on avoiding the build-now, provide-later approach where development in outer suburbs has far outpaced amenities and throttled employment opportunities by putting workers a huge commute away from jobs.
“There are literally millions of people in Western Sydney every day that get on the train or in their cars … the opportunity for meaningful diversified employment hasn’t been there,” NSW Deputy Premier Prue Car said on Tuesday.
“You will really have an opportunity to learn, to stay and to work in high-paid jobs in Western Sydney.”
But some have pointed to the perils of over-zealous development without being sure of demand.
Eight kilometres southeast of Bradfield, the Leppington train station has not transformed the bare paddock where it was built in 2015 into a residential and business hub, envisioned as part of a rail project costing $1.8 billion.
Despite the eventual addition of a metro line, bus routes and an international airport, the risk of mimicking the Leppington debacle lingers over Bradfield.
“New towns removed from city centres have a hard time attracting market development,” Sydney University transport professor David Levinson said.
“Firms want to be near other complementary firms. The defining feature of Bradfield is remoteness.”
In a 2024 submission to an inquiry into transport infrastructure around the new airport, Levinson also argued developments such as Bradfield unnecessarily steered funding away from higher priorities.
“Additional infrastructure investments in the absence of changes in demand will not magically make (success) happen but will drain resources from solving real problems,” he said.
NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully rejected the assertion Bradfield would be a ghost town.
“We know business is interested and they should be,” Scully said.
The precinct’s Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility, a space where companies can trial production processes, is already partially online and engaging 50 companies.
Rather than a far-off satellite, it is hoped Bradfield will be a CBD in its own right, boasting 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs.
