Advocacy Priorities

Council is creating the future of Penrith through focused advocacy and planning – a place with good jobs and good connections, supporting the people who live in one of Australia's fastest growing regions. Council's Advocacy Strategy,  highlights the priority projects and infrastructure Penrith needs to fully capitalise on our unique assets and strategic position within the Western Parkland City. These priority projects are significant, region-shaping projects that require collaboration with multiple levels of government to coordinate and deliver.

What is advocacy?

Advocacy is the process of influencing others to create change. It is often aimed at decision makers to make positive changes to public policy or resourcing for community benefit.

Advocacy by local government seeks to drive change in NSW and Australian Government policy and steer investment towards ensuring local priorities are supported. Strong relationships and strategic partnerships are critical to our organisation’s advocacy activities. Effective advocacy requires the proponents to have a clear understanding of the issue or challenge, and ideas on how to address these that can be clearly communicated.

All advocacy activities are guided by the following principles:

• Community-based
• Evidence-based
• Strategically aligned
• Solution-oriented
• Proactive, not reactive

How have the priorities been chosen?

A strong evidence base of Council strategies and plans has contributed to this strategy. It is closely aligned with the recently endorsed Penrith Community Strategic Plan 2036+ (CSP). The relevant priority projects and infrastructure identified within this document is the result of evidence gathering, research, technical inputs and consultation through Council’s various strategies and plans, such as the 2020 Penrith Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS) and Places of Penrith Strategic Framework.

What are Council's advocacy priorities?

Penrith City Council's 2023 Advocacy Strategy details several priority projects for Council to advocate for over the next few years, and the Advocacy Priorities are the specific infrastructure projects that we need delivered to ensure that we have the right infrastructure to support our growing and evolving community. These priorities were informed by the community during extensive consultation for Council's 15-year Community Plan.

These advocacy documents focus on top-tier, city-shaping priorities, but are no way an exhaustive list of all Council’s advocacy projects. Council continues to advocate on many other issues. The Advocacy Priorities will be regularly revised.

Priority Projects

1.1 Castlereagh Connection

East-west connectivity and access from the north of the city has become an increasing priority as the population grows. To address a critical need to improve connectivity, address congestion and improve flood evacuation in Penrith, Council is advocating for funding for the delivery of the Castlereagh Connection. Infrastructure Australia assessed the Castlereagh Connection as a high priority and the NSW Government reconfirmed the location of the corridor. The Australian Government has committed $50 million for undertaking a business case for the Castlereagh Connection Council expects the upcoming business case to provide a detailed analysis around needs, benefits, constraints and staging of this important project for the region.

1.2 Werrington Arterial Stage 2

We're also advocating for the Werrington Arterial Stage 2 after successfully advocating for other region-wide priorities, such as the Mulgoa / Castlereagh Road upgrade, which are currently underway. The Werrington Arterial Stage 2 is the missing link of critical infrastructure between the M4 at St Marys, the Great Western Highway and the NorthWest Growth Area. It is needed to alleviate the 22,000 vehicles per day that travel from the M4 at St Marys through to the North-West Growth Area. The State and Federal Government have committed a combined $6 million for a Strategic Business Case to provide the strategic design, economic assessment, and early cost estimation to inform an investment decision on a Final Business Case. The complete project estimate to construct the entire 2.2km (4 lanes) with a rail overpass is $300 million. We need a commitment from Transport for NSW to deliver this critical State arterial road connection from Dunheved Road to the Great Western Highway.

Other priority projects outlined in the Advocacy Strategy include:
1.3 – Rapid Bus Services
2.1 – Access to Penrith Lakes
2.2 – Improve Recreational Infrastructure (various projects)
2.3 – Promote and enable walking and cycling (various projects)
3.1 – Activate Penrith’s Economic Triangle
4.1 – Revitalise St Marys Civic Heart