Over the past decade, Wollongong City Council has invested more than $100M in researching, designing, upgrading and building new roads, bridges, paths and stormwater structures in West Dapto.

This is a huge amount of money – and it’s just a portion of what we’ll be investing in the suburb over the coming years.

West Dapto is one of the fastest growing greenfield sites in the state. It’s important we’re planning now to ensure there’s a measured and purposeful development of this area now and into the future.

We want to make sure that the people who are living there in 2025 and 2045 have what they need to live, work and play.

Last week, I had the pleasure of announcing the upcoming start of the next phase of works on a major upgrade to West Dapto Road between Shone Avenue and Yard Steet.

This critical infrastructure improvement includes a new shared path with a pedestrian bridge, new road pavements, stormwater drainage, extensive services relocation, line marking, landscaping, signage, road infrastructure and an upgrade of the Shone Avenue and West Dapto Road intersection.

The work is due to start in late April/May and, once it’s finished will be another essential link for this community, particularly those living in Wongawilli, Stream Hill and Horsley.

We’re seeing huge growth in this area. In terms of approved Development Applications and land releases, there’s been some 2,407 lots registered and a further 200 lots currently under construction.

In addition to wanting homes to live in, and roads to drive on, our residents in Dapto and surrounds will need places to exercise, play community sport and parklands to relax in.

We’re working on this, too, with plans being developed for the Darkes Road Sporting Hub and we have a visioning document in place which makes it clear that integrating the natural and cultural heritage of the area is critical as diverse housing options are delivered.

Of course, all this work takes time and money. We’re grateful to the NSW Government for co-funding the current works on West Dapto Road through the NSW Government’s Housing Acceleration Fund which has contributed $26 million to accelerate delivery.

We’ll continue to advocate for further funding support to ensure we’re doing our best to meet the current and future housing and lifestyle needs of this rapidly growing area.