Implementing the Urban Farming Master Plan in Horsley Park, Western Sydney: From Planning to Reality

Abstract

Maintaining rural character of peri-urban landscape is a significant challenge in Australia and it is particularly important in Australia to allow sustainable agriculture, horticulture and forestry. The Western Sydney Parklands is an urban park system located in Western Sydney with a commitment to provide urban farming in the Parklands. The Parklands is a 27 km long public open space corridor of approximately 5200 ha. The land is administered and managed by the Western Sydney Parklands Trust (Trust) under the Western Sydney Parkland Act 2006. The Trust is committed to providing 10 % (or about 500 ha) of the Western Sydney Parklands (area 5280 ha) for urban farming as per the Western Sydney Parklands Plan of Management 2020. The strategic objective for the Trust is to develop an approach for converting fallow public land to productive space by providing commercial growers a secure tenure in the Sydney basin. This chapter outlines the process of developing and implementing a master plan for a Horsley Park, Western Sydney. The case study has highlighted that implementation of the master plan has a number of challenges including: legislative and regulatory processes; environmental and social matters; and provides some insights from planning to reality of farming in the Sydney region.