Economic Development Strategy

The Economic Development Strategy is our plan to strengthen a sustainable 24-hour economy that will create local employment opportunities and build a prosperous community.

It was adopted by Council in April 2022 after consultation with the community. You can read how we considered this feedback to improve the strategy in the Council meeting report (page 85).

The strategy is Council's plan to build on our unique appeal as a place to live, work, visit and study. It will enable us to build on the diverse strengths of Randwick City and respond to the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented, including the impact on small businesses and the education and tourism sector.

We will focus on:

• empowering our community to run thriving businesses
• developing vibrant, active places; and
• attracting people to Randwick City

While the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still unknown, we have significantly less students and visitors contributing to our local economy while the ability of residents to shop, dine and access services has also been restricted.

The outcomes and objectives we aim to achieve through the Economic Development Strategy are:

1. Empowering businesses to start, grow and thrive

• Increase the number of businesses by 20% by 2032
• Increase the number of businesses that are members of a local network channel or association by 20% by 2032
• Increase the number of businesses that are carbon neutral by 2032

2. Creating a 24-hour economy with diverse night time experiences

• Increase night time spending at (6pm – 6am) by 7% by 2032

3. Developing diverse, active places for business including vibrant town centres

• Ensure 86% or more of our community is satisfied with the vitality of town centres by 2032

4. Attracting people to Randwick City to do business, work, and visit

• Support the creation of an additional 9,200 jobs in the Randwick Collaboration Area by 2036

In implementing the strategy, and recover from the pandemic, we will:

• empower business owners and organisations with networks and resources
• catalyse business collaboration and marketing opportunities
• improve public spaces to create vibrant town and neighbourhood centres
• promote our area’s strengths to attract new businesses, talented workers and students
• maintain the coastal amenity and foster experiences to attract visitors

Partnerships with business, small and large, all levels of government and the not-for-profit sector will be key to achieving the outcomes for a vibrant and prosperous local 24-hour economy.

Some priorities include:

• developing a plan to communicate and engage with businesses
• creating a Buy Local, Shop Local campaign
• fostering a sustainable and active business network group/s
• creating a sponsorship program for business-led collaborative projects
• making planning framework changes to support a night time economy such as changes to encourage new experiences after 6pm
• securing government funding programs for public space improving in our town centres