Sydney Plan Recognises Critical Role of Industrial Land in Building Sydney
Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia
Key Facts:- Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia (CCAA) has welcomed the final Sydney Plan, praising its stronger protection of industrial land and recognition of freight and supply chains as essential to supporting the heavy construction materials industry.
- The CCAA highlighted that concrete must be delivered within 90 minutes of batching, making it critical that concrete batching plants remain close to construction sites in a congested city like Sydney.
- The Sydney Plan commits to protecting state, regional, and locally significant industrial land, maintaining a pipeline of around 250 hectares of development-ready industrial land annually, and safeguarding freight corridors from incompatible land uses.
- The Plan's recognition of the Southern Sydney Freight Line and the importance of first- and last-mile freight connections was welcomed, as efficient transport links help reduce costs, congestion, and emissions for high-volume construction materials.
- Whilst welcoming the Plan's foundations, CCAA CEO Michael Kilgariff called for a dedicated NSW Heavy Construction Materials Plan to bring together land-use planning, materials demand, freight access, and protection of strategically important facilities into a single long-term framework.
Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia (CCAA) has welcomed the final Sydney Plan, saying its stronger protection of industrial land and recognition of freight and supply chains responds to key issues raised by the heavy construction materials industry.
CCAA CEO Michael Kilgariff said the Plan appropriately recognises that Sydney’s growth depends not only on where homes and infrastructure are built, but on maintaining the industrial land and freight networks needed to supply the materials to build them.
“Concrete, cement and aggregates are fundamental to every new home, road, rail line, school and hospital, and the planning system needs to protect the supply chain that gets those materials to construction sites,” Mr Kilgariff said.
“CCAA has consistently advocated for industrial land to be protected from incompatible development, particularly where it supports concrete batching and distribution facilities that need to be located close to the communities and projects they serve.”
CCAA raised the importance of protecting Sydney’s industrial lands directly with Premier Chris Minns in 2024, warning that pushing concrete batching plants further from construction markets would increase transport distances, congestion, emissions and construction costs.
Concrete is time-sensitive, generally requiring delivery within 90 minutes of batching, making proximity between plants and construction sites particularly important in a congested city such as Sydney.
The final Sydney Plan commits to protecting state and regionally significant industrial land and maintaining locally significant industrial lands that support local areas and supply chains. It also recognises the need for industrial land to leverage key freight locations.
“These are important principles and closely align with what CCAA has been calling for,” Mr Kilgariff said.
“We particularly welcome the recognition that locally significant industrial land has an important supply-chain function. For our industry, that means ensuring there are suitable locations for concrete batching plants close to where Sydney is actually building.”
CCAA also welcomed the Plan’s target for a pipeline of around 250 hectares of development-ready industrial land each year, together with its commitment to safeguard critical freight corridors and supply chains from incompatible land uses.
“Freight is a critical part of the heavy construction materials supply chain, and it needs to be planned alongside housing, infrastructure and industrial land,” Mr Kilgariff said.
“The Sydney Plan rightly recognises the importance of protecting freight corridors and connecting industrial lands with ports, intermodal terminals and markets.
“For our industry, efficient first- and last-mile freight connections are particularly important. Concrete, cement and aggregates are high-volume materials, and unnecessary transport distances add costs, congestion and emissions.
“We also welcome the Plan’s recognition of the Southern Sydney Freight Line and the important role it plays transporting construction materials from the Southern Highlands into Sydney.”
These priorities align with CCAA’s advocacy through the NSW Freight Transport Advisory Council, including better first- and last-mile access and protection of concrete batching plants, terminals and depots from incompatible encroachment.
Mr Kilgariff said the final Plan represented significant progress, but CCAA would continue advocating for a dedicated NSW Heavy Construction Materials Plan.
“The Sydney Plan gets important foundations right, but we now need to build on them with a dedicated Heavy Construction Materials Plan.
“That would bring together land-use planning, future materials demand, freight access and the protection of strategically important facilities into one long-term framework.
“If NSW wants to build more homes and infrastructure faster and more affordably, planning for the materials needed to build them has to be part of the equation.”
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About CCAA
CCAA is the voice of Australia’s heavy construction materials industry, an industry that contributes $20.7 billion to GDP and supports 112,970 jobs nationwide. CCAA members produce most of Australia's cement, concrete and aggregates, which are essential to the nation’s building and construction sectors.
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Contact: Mitch Itter, Manager Communications | 0431 542 660 | [email protected]