Council calls for Federal Government to Catch Up with City of Armadale

The launch of the National Growth Areas Alliance’s (NGAA) ‘Catch Up with the Outer Suburbs Campaign’, saw Mayors and senior staff from 21 NGAA Councils meet with Federal Ministers and Members of Parliament at Parliament House in Canberra last week.

City of Armadale Mayor Henry Zelones OAM, JP met with the Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Alan Tudge; Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development Anthony Albanese, and Mr Andrew Hastie MP to advocate for better access to roads, transport, local jobs and community facilities in fast growing outer suburbs.

Mayor Henry Zelones said the launch of the campaign was organised through the National Growth Areas Alliance (NGAA) to call on federal politicians to Catch Up with population growth in the outer suburbs and give residents access to some of the essential services and infrastructure that inner city residents enjoy.

“The campaign has given the City an opportunity to advocate to the Federal Government for $30M towards the development of the $115M Armadale Regional Recreational Reserve in Haynes, and $10M for a purpose built Armadale Higher Education Centre.

“The City of Armadale has experienced rapid population growth in the last 10 years, with growth expected to continue. Projected demographics confirm that the South East metropolitan region will continue to attract young working class families, many of them first homebuyers. With rapid population growth comes greater demand for active recreation facilities.

”We need to build the facilities to help our growing community thrive including the Armadale Regional Recreational Reserve which will meet the sporting and recreational needs of the rapidly growing South East Metropolitan region, the largest and fastest growing region in the metropolitan area.

Due to the growing population, the City also advocated for a higher education institution in the Armadale region.

“With 27 primary and 12 high schools in the area and more to come, the City clearly needs a pathway and improved access to higher education services for its younger citizens.

“Armadale is the only strategic metropolitan centre out of eight in the Perth metropolitan area without a purpose built Higher Education/TAFE campus.

“A higher education institution/hub/facility in our region is extremely important in creating designated pathways for Armadale students to gain better access to higher education, and to provide aspirational learning opportunities for the region’s lower socio-economic areas.”

The City of Armadale encourages interested residents to join the campaign to tell Politicians about the priority infrastructure needs in our community.

For further information or to join the campaign visit www.catchup.org.au.