METRO//NEWS 04/09/08

Biggest city sprawls attacked (The Australian)
URBAN sprawl and quality of life have become so bad in Australia's biggest cities that new outer suburban housing estates should be banned in Sydney and Melbourne.


Sydney transport a rail embarrassment (Daily Telegraph)
HERE'S proof that Sydney's rail network is a laughing stock when compared with its global peers.


Planners urged to cut urban sprawl (Herald Sun)
BAN the outer suburban housing estates to cut urban sprawl and be more like London and Rome.


Death knell sounded for Aussie suburbs (News.com.au)
AUSTRALIA'S big cities are being urged to ban outer suburban housing estates to cut urban sprawl and be more like London and Rome.


Fuel prices drive a corner shop revival (News.com.au)
THE corner shop is going through a renaissance, being reinvented as upmarket one-stop shops, as struggling households shy away from driving to mega malls because of high fuel prices.


Shift to two peaks will save the planet (Sydney Morning Herald)
WORKING 9 to 5, what a way to make a living - and what a waste of greenhouse gases, says one architect and urban planner.


14-hour working day to ease commute (News.com.au)
A 14-HOUR work day is being floated as a solution to Sydney's peak-hour gridlock.


Metropolis Congress 2008 (City of Sydney)
For the first time in Sydney, 100 leaders from the world's major cities will meet for the 9th World Congress of Metropolis.


Drilling begins for North-West Metro (ABC News)
The first ground has been broken for the New South Wales Government's planned North-West Metro rail link.


Sydney metro testing underway (Livenews.com.au)
Engineers have begun testing the ground in Sydney's CBD as they try to determine the best route for the northwest metro train tunnel.


Gore Hill development to rival CBD workplaces, developers say (Daily Telegraph)
A $400 million mixed-use business precinct, being built on the former site of the ABC Studios at Gore Hill, will provide an alternative to a CBD workplace, the developer says.


Watkins quits politics to put family first (Sydney Morning Herald)
Deputy NSW Premier and Transport Minister John Watkins is quitting politics, Premier Morris Iemma announced today.


WSROC wants transport pledges reaffirmed in wake of Watkins resignation (Parramatta Sun)
Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) president Cr Tony Hay thanked outgoing deputy premier and transport minister John Watkins for his continued support of key Western Sydney public transport infrastructure projects and urged the State Government to reaffirm its commitments to these projects.


Bid to launch Sydney green tax (Sydney Morning Herald)
Inner-city developments worth more than $1 million would be hit with a 2 per cent levy to cover the cost of environmental programs, under a proposal for Labor's Lord Mayoral candidate Meredith Burgmann.