Lead Story
Issue No. 59 - June/July 2011
City of Charles Sturt set to rebound
Metropolitan Adelaide’s economic future hinges on how well the ‘brownfield’ and ‘greyfield’ areas of longdeveloped suburbs manage to recast themselves as modern, active, desireable places to live and work.
The City of Charles Sturt1 lies west of the Adelaide CBD and includes beachside suburbs of Semaphore Park, Grange and Henley for an estimated population of slightly more than 106,000.
It was proclaimed on 1 January 1997 when the City of Hindmarsh Woodville and the City of Henley and Grange formally amalgamated.
Long urbanised, containing many industrial sites, the City of Charles Sturt is engaged in a ‘renaissance’ involving key urban infill projects along transport corridors – focal points for the State Government’s 30 Year Plan for Greater Adelaide.
Charles Sturt’s population growth has been stagnant, economic growth marginal: a growth spurt here will be a key marker for the Plan’s success overall.
From 1991-2006, Charles Sturt’s population did not grow at all, while its Gross Regional Product grew by 2.1%pa By comparison, the population of metropolitan Adelaide (and of SA as a whole) increased by about 0.5% pa, and SA’s GSP increased by 2.7% pa.
If Charles Sturt’s targets for population and economic growth implicit in the 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide are met, the growth rate of Charles Sturt’s population will rise from zero to 1.5%pa (adding an extra 50,000 residents), while the growth rate of Charles Sturt’s GRP will rise from 2.1% pa to more than 4%pa (adding an extra 26,000 jobs). About 26,000 extra dwellings will also be needed.
The State Government’s 30-Year Plan for Charles Sturt is, therefore, for it to be transformed from a slowgrowing to a fast-growing local government area, with faster growth in population, jobs and income per resident than in the past. <...
