As a Regional City under the New South Wales Government’s Metropolitian Stategy, Penrith City Council’s economic development program is underpinned by the need to provide quality jobs for its 85,000 strong workforce. This is being achieved through targeted initiatives including the Penrith Valley Home Based Business Online.
As a growing city with several major new urban release areas, Penrith Council has adopted a 1:1 jobs policy. This requires developers to create jobs to match the number of working residents who will live in new release areas.
Employment strategies for these areas have a strong focus on home based businesses. Council views home based businesses in new release areas as a means of meeting incoming workforce needs, arresting job migration and reducing the travel time of resident workers. As a result, the Penrith Valley Home Based Business Online is a collaborative project that has seen Council and industry working together to design and introduce new technology, systems and processes that enable home based businesses, home activities and small businesses to easily determine what steps they need to take to become compliant.
In creating a one stop online service, Penrith City’s growing home based and small business sector now find it easier to start up or expand their operations. The site allows potential and current business people to ascertain their development application (DA) compliance obligations quickly, accurately and with a minimum of fuss. This reduces the cost for new and existing businesses to comply with current and changing regulations.
An initial assessment of the cost savings of this project indicates that it will reduce the cost of compliance by $2,344 per home based business. This alone justifies the cost of $110,000 allocated to Penrith for this online project by Federal Government under AusIndustry’s Red Tape Reduction Incentive Fund.
Both start up and existing home based businesses can use the web based service to streamline paperwork and help cut costs. The site explains what is involved in applying for a DA and provides relevant forms and useful tips. It can also help business to contact organisations for further help and networking with similar operations.
By developing templates and using everyday language instead of ‘planning’ jargon, Penrith City Council has made it easier for members of the community to apply for
a DA.
The new, easy to understand forms and processes save business owners time and money and reduce the frustration that they experienced under the old system. At the same time Council benefits from increased development compliance, and development applications are increasingly more accurate, resulting in less rework and resubmissions.
Another key benefit is that small and home based businesses can readily access the support services provided by Council and its business partners to assist in their growth and expansion.
For further information on contact Vanessa Campbell, Marketing Officer, telephone (02) 4732 7782.
