Western Sydney Residents Fed Up With Infrastructure Deficit

Western Sydney mum Cynthia Meta says many in her community feel fed up with the lack of infrastructure in the city's south-west.

From overcrowding at her local hospital's emergency department to a desperate need for better roads, Ms Meta said her neighbourhood had "fallen right behind".

Ms Meta said parts of her local government area still did not have wastewater connections.

"We're in the middle of a housing crisis — there are thousands of potential blocks but the developers can't buy them or develop them because there's no potable water or wastewater."

She showed the ABC correspondence from her local MP that suggested wastewater connection may not come to her area until 2028 or 2032.

Ms Meta felt if the state government did not have the funding to address the issues it was their job to lobby for federal funds.

The long-time Leppington local represents a group called Leppington Progress Association, which she said had been campaigning for infrastructure upgrades for more than a decade.

Ms Meta pointed to Rickard Road as an example, the main lifeline connecting Leppington Station to the newly developed town centre.

She said the road, which was in desperate need of upgrades, often experienced bad congestion, particularly during peak hour.

On that same road, a new high school is under construction and another primary school is being renovated, leaving students to walk down muddy roads due to lack of footpaths.

"You have little children walking to this new school they're building on country roads that have not been upgraded in eons," Ms Meta said.

When asked about Rickard Road, Camden Council's general manager Andrew Carfield said: "We do have funding to deliver the road design, but funding has not yet been made available to deliver the actual road upgrades."

He said the not-yet-available funding for road upgrades would include delivering "a whole new roadway with footpaths to support the growth of our community".

Calls for new 10-year infrastructure plan

It comes as a decade-long federal government plan to fund road infrastructure in Western Sydney, which successfully delivered major billion-dollar projects like the M12 Motorway, the Northern Road upgrade and more, comes to an end this year.

The M7-M12 interchange is set to open in the next few weeks, adding another puzzle piece to the major roads network, connecting the new Nancy Bird Walton Airport to Western Sydney.

But local advocates said now was not the time for the government to take its foot off the throttle.

The Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue called on the federal government to work with the state government and local councils to develop a new 10-year program prioritising key infrastructure projects that would go beyond building roads.

"We'd like to see the federal government take the lead again," the dialogue's chief executive Adam Leto said.

Mr Carfield agreed that a longer-term strategy was needed, such as a 10-year plan, which could help streamline investment and infrastructure decisions from planning through to delivery.

Another point of concern was the pace of growth in the region.

"We [Western Sydney] are forecast to grow by an extra 1.3 million people by 2041," Mr Leto said.

He said social infrastructure, health infrastructure and major transport and infrastructure projects need to take priority.

NSW Labor 'investing record amounts'

NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Western Sydney, Prue Car, acknowledged that addressing the infrastructure deficit would take time, "but we are investing record amounts to close this gap".

"The Minns Labor Government is delivering record investment in the schools, roads and hospitals that Western Sydney waited too long for under the former Liberal-National Government," she said in a statement.

Ms Car said the state government would work with the Commonwealth to "secure support for key projects" affecting the area.

A spokesperson for the federal minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King said they would "continue to work with the NSW government to plan, fund and deliver the infrastructure Western Sydney needs and deserves".

"That's why the Australian Government is investing nearly $18 billion in the road, rail and airport infrastructure to better connect locals and visitors alike and to make it easier for everyone to see what's so special about Western Sydney," they said.