Western Sydney Growth Areas

• Blacktown City Council
• Camden Council
• Campbelltown City Council
• Hawkesbury City Council
• The Hills Shire Council
• Liverpool City Council

• NSW Department of Communities and Justice
• Fire and Rescue NSW
• NSW Department of Education – School Infrastructure
• NSW Health:
  • Health Infrastructure NSW
  • NSW Ambulance
• NSW Police
• Property and Development NSW – Planning Ministerial Corporation
• Transport for NSW.

The mandatory criteria are:

• The project must show how it supports new housing.
• The funding requested must fall within the range of $2 million to $10 million. Note that grants are GST exclusive.
• Construction projects must be completed within 4 years by 30 June 2029.
• The applicant must own the land for construction projects.
• Land acquisition projects must be completed within 4 years by 30 June 2029.
• Planning and design projects must be completed within 3 years by 30 June 2028.
• The project must be within the Special Contributions Area of the Western Sydney Growth Areas.
• The application form must be complete and all mandatory attachments included.
• Projects that do not meet the mandatory criteria will not progress further in the assessment process.

All infrastructure projects identified in the Western Sydney Growth Areas Special Infrastructure Contribution Determination 2011 and the proposed North West Growth Area Special Infrastructure Contribution 2018 are eligible for funding.

You can submit applications for new projects not identified in the Western Sydney Growth Areas Special Infrastructure Contribution Determination 2011 or the proposed North West Growth Area Special Infrastructure Contribution 2018.

New projects must be within the Special Contributions Area of the Western Sydney Growth Areas and must meet the new project eligibility criteria. See Attachment A of Grant guidelines for Round 6 of the Western Sydney Growth Areas Special Infrastructure Contributions Funding Program.

We strongly encourage you to contact the Special Infrastructure Contributions (SIC) Funding Program team to discuss if the proposed new project is eligible. Email [email protected]

No, shortlisted projects in the Western Sydney Growth Areas Special Infrastructure Contribution Determination 2011 or proposed projects in the North West Growth Area Special Infrastructure Contribution 2018 will receive priority in funding over new ones.

The following items are not eligible for funding under the Round 6:

• operational expenditure associated with the project once delivered
• infrastructure already fully funded by local, state or federal government
• infrastructure outside the Western Sydney Growth Areas SCA except land acquisition items for conservation and open space listed in the Western Sydney Growth Areas Special Infrastructure Contribution Determination 2011 and proposed North West Growth Area Special Infrastructure Contribution 2018
• community consultation expenditure
• costs associated with legal matters for the project
• costs associated with iNSW Gateway assurance review
• any expenses not expressly identified in the scope of the funding agreement
• expenditure above the agreed funding amount
• expenditure incurred before the announcement that the project has been funded
• administrative infrastructure, including computers, mobile phones, software or hardware
• payment of salaries for existing staff or staff not involved in the project
• administrative overhead items such as office equipment, vehicles or mobile capital equipment (for example, earthmoving equipment and trucks)
• ancillary projects identified after funding was approved.

Funding targets for the project categories are set at 90% for construction and land acquisition projects, and 10% for planning and design projects, which means that there will be a strong preference towards construction and delivery projects. In the planning and design category, final business cases will be prioritised over strategic business cases.

Project category funding targets may change, based on:

• the scale and scope of applications received
• assessment findings
• the final investment recommendations we make to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces through the governance process for the Special Infrastructure Contributions Funding Program.

Each eligible organisation can submit a maximum of 5 applications. This is to ensure that projects that are submitted are of strategic importance to eligible organisations.

Yes. There are 3 project categories:

• Planning and Design.
• Construction.
• Land Acquisition.

Applicants must submit separate applications for each category. For example, an applicant with a design and construction project is required to submit 2 separate applications. One for the construction project category and one for the planning and design project category.

Co-contributions are not mandatory. However, we encourage applicants to commit funding towards the project. Projects with a co-contribution will likely rank higher than projects without one in the Rapid Cost-Benefit Analysis model.

Projects that are already fully funded are not eligible.

We will assess the nominated projects in the following 5 stages:

1. Review of eligibility assessment
2. Service catchment analysis
3. Economic assessment using a Rapid Cost-Benefit Analysis model
4. Independent review by a technical consultant
5. Independent strategic review by expert panel.

The first stage is an eligibility review to ensure projects meet the eligibility criteria.

We will then analyse the service catchment. We will assess projects using a Rapid Cost-Benefit Analysis model to rank projects and generate a shortlist.

A project catchment refers to the geographical service area the project will support. In Round 6 of the program, we will use these in the assessment process to measure the housing benefits of proposed projects. The number of new homes a project supports is an important input used in the Rapid Cost-Benefit Analysis model.

An independent GIS (geographic information system) specialist will review your project catchment areas as part of Stage 2: Catchment analysis. For more information, please see ‘Assessment stages’ in the guidelines.

The independent third-party review will verify the technical details of the projects, including:

• the cost estimates
• funding strategy
• scope of works and schedule
• risks and interdependencies
• delivery capability
• natural risks – bushfire and flooding
• approval status (of any planning and other relevant approvals).

The expert will give feedback to the SIC Funding Program Team once their review is complete.

The independent expert will evaluate your estimate of the number of new homes that the project will support over time, including the method used for deciding the project’s extents and service catchments.

The strategic review panel will include representatives from multiple teams across the department. The panel will review:

• prioritisation and sequencing of infrastructure delivery
• the housing supply benefits
• how well the project aligns strategically with growth
• how consistent the project is with the program objectives.

The program team will use each of these assessments to prepare an investment recommendations report for an executive steering committee to endorse. If it is endorsed, the program team will seek approval to fund the final list of projects from the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces.

The nomination form must identify the status of planning and other relevant approvals, including which have been gained and which are still outstanding. We expect that having approvals in place would shorten the delivery time for projects and mitigate risks, which would strengthen a project’s performance in our assessment.

The success of Round 6 will be evaluated on the total housing growth the projects realise. You will need to give an estimate of the number of new homes that the project will support over time, including your method for estimating and monitoring these benefits. You must provide supporting GIS mapping of project extents and service catchments.

Yes. The department will include a benefits realisation condition in the funding agreements and term sheets. Successful applicants may need to meet with the department on an ongoing annual basis after project completion to discuss housing benefit performance.

The department will compare home completions against the number of homes claimed within the application. Applicants can also report to the department on other project benefits.

The department strongly encourages applicants to submit a benefits realisation plan with their application if available. However, this is not mandatory.

The SIC Funding Program Team will contact the successful applicant and issue the funding agreement or term sheet. After the funding agreements and term sheets are executed, the applicant will send an invoice to the team to arrange payment.

We will work with the successful applicants to execute the funding agreements or term sheets as soon as possible. The sooner the agreement is executed, the sooner you can receive funding.

We will record the number of homes to be served by the projects in our investment recommendations report once we have analysed the service catchments against growth forecasts.

All planning and design projects must be delivered by 30 June 2028. All land acquisition and construction projects must be completed by 30 June 2029.