Penrith Council buys land to develop industrial estate

Penrith City Council has purchased 16.29 hectares of industrial land to build a new industrial and employment hub at Emu Plains.

The site, located at 158-164 Old Bathurst Road and previously home to concrete pipe supplier Rocla is set to unlock one of the biggest industrial land parcels in the suburb in more than 14 years.

The site will be subdivided to improve the limited supply of medium-sized industrial land in the Penrith Local Government Area.

The council aims to attract more than 40 businesses to base their operations in Emu Plains and provide space for local businesses to start up or scale up.

This strategic site will leverage the close proximity to the Penrith CBD, Blue Mountains, the M4 Motorway, Emu Plains train station and the proposed adjacent State Government commuter car park.

Penrith Mayor Karen McKeown said the purchase of the site aligns with council’s strategic vision for Penrith to become a world-class city with employment opportunities close to home.

“As part of the revitalisation of our city, Council has purchased 158-164 Old Bathurst Road for a future industrial precinct to diversify our local job opportunities, attract investment to our city and locate businesses close to home,” McKeown said.

“We need to significantly increase our employment hubs in Penrith with our population set to grow by 60,000 in the next 10 years, and over half of our working population already commuting outside the area each day for work. Our proposed industrial precinct at Emu Plains will help us to achieve our employment targets by creating 300 – 350 new jobs once complete in essential industries such as advanced manufacturing, logistics, warehouse distribution and construction.

“This new project will also inject $36.4 million into our local economy each year, helping to support our recovery from COVID-19.”

Penrith City Council has finalised contracts with settlement due in 2023 and can commence the planning phases of the project with a development application expected to be lodged in mid-2022.