More industrial land required to keep up with Canberrans' needs: Property Council report

ABS projections have Canberra's 2021 population of 447,000 increasing by more than 110,000 by the year 2036, meaning at least 70 hectares of additional industrial land would be required by 2031 to maintain per-capita industrial land supply at current levels of at least two hectares per 1000 people.

A further 130 hectares would be needed by 2041, and another 130 by 2050, the report prepared by SGS Economics revealed.

This is on top of what is already planned in the ACT's Indicative Land Release Program.

Dr Marcia Keegan, Senior Associate and Partner of SGS Economics and Planning said that because Canberra does not have a large manufacturing industry, the impacts of low levels of industrial land could be felt most keenly by ACT residents.

"A lot of the industrial land that we have is population serving, these are businesses that typically work to service the immediately surrounding population," she said.

Such businesses include rental and hiring companies, building cleaning and pest control, car servicing, printing, utilities including rubbish collection, material wholesaling, transport, courier services, transport support, warehousing and construction.

"If you start running out of industrial land ... it means that businesses who want to locate in the area either to service the population or to leverage off some other industries in the area, they can't find land to do it," Dr Keegan said.

"That might mean that some businesses decide to locate elsewhere other than the ACT.

"It can also mean that ACT residents have a hard time accessing the services that they need, or they can be more expensive than they expect."

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Queanbeyan offers some opportunities for employment land servicing the national capital, with South Jerrabomberra expected to provide 136 hectares, however, it wouldn't be enough to match the growing population.

"Also, one of the useful things about population-serving industrial land is having it in an area that's relatively accessible to where people are," Dr Keegan said.

"Having some industrial style businesses in areas like ... town centers, that can be very convenient for people who live in the area."

Property Council's ACT Executive Director Adina Cirson called for an urgent policy review of the appropriate land needed for both employment and services and where these services need to be located.

"These projected increases in the population of Canberra and the region has meant forward planning uses of land should meet the needs of the commercial offering," Ms Cirson said.

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