Economic development
West Torrens is a major economic contributor to our State with more than 5,000 individual businesses located within our city, including the Airport Business District, Harbour Town, Mile End Homemaker Centre and a number of smaller, yet significant, shopping centres.
West Torrens has an employment base of more than 50,000 and as a city, we are focussed on sustainable growth and development, diversifying our economy, strengthening our partnering relationships and fostering strong and vibrant communities.
To help support our local businesses and community, we have a City of West Torrens Economic Development Plan 2020 - 2025. The Plan, which has been written through a COVID-19 lens, highlights the importance of a strong economy and the need for local diversification to help build resilience into the future.
It is our role to help support economic growth and stability, as well as local business recovery from COVID-19. Five key economic strategic focus areas have been identified:
1. A thriving business environment
Objective
Encourage economic growth and productivity.
Long-term strategy
Sustain economic growth and productivity.
Short-term strategies
- Develop partnership arrangements and networking opportunities with economic development agencies and key business sectors in the city.
- Support the development and growth of local business and jobs, including tourism and export opportunities.
- Investigate opportunities for Council to support local businesses.
- Invest in more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable technologies, facilities and services.
Key initiatives
- Host or facilitate forums, networking and training and support for new and existing businesses.
- Investigate grants and other funding options to assist local businesses.
- Explore procurement opportunities which will benefit local businesses.
- Investigate ‘circular economy’ opportunities.
2. A vibrant city
Objective
City growth, vibrancy and culture comes when everyone participates in city life.
Long-term strategy
Foster a vibrant and inviting city.
Short-term strategies
- Embrace emerging technology to meet the evolving needs of our residential and business communities.
- Identify and promote the distinct identity of West Torrens.
- Create vibrant suburban precincts.
- Develop and enrich the visitor experience.
- Investigate increasing our cultural activities and events offering to build community well-being and economic viability.
Key initiatives
- Maintain an advocacy and lobbyist role with State and Federal Governments.
- Ensure Council plans and projects consider economic development opportunities.
- Joint project initiatives - identified and pursued.
- Develop new and diverse income streams.
- Increase the amount of green infrastructure within the city.
- Investigate ‘main street’ opportunities in the city.
- Identify and cultivate investment sectors for the old Adelaide University Site, the Coca Cola Amatil and West End Brewery sites at Thebarton.
- Update the transport study for whole of city.
- Explore golf tourism based on the two highly rated
- courses in the Council area, Kooyonga and Glenelg.
- Investigate export ready programs.
3. Innovation and digital evolution
Objective
Ensuring the City of West Torrens Council embraces innovation and digital evolution for the betterment of the community.
Long-term strategy
Create opportunities that develop the competencies, skills and capacity of businesses and organisations that instils a digital culture and leads to innovation and sustainable outcomes for a vibrant and connected community.
Short-term strategies
- Encourage new businesses to relocate to West Torrens.
- Complement government and private sector infrastructure to bring the internet to city users in public spaces.
- Use smart technologies to activate the public realm.
- Facilitate growth of the ‘new’ digital economy across the business, cultural, artistic, recreational and educational sectors.
- Build alliances across different sectors, community and industry groups using digital technologies.
- Use online and social media to engage with services and projects with the community.
Key initiatives
- Investigate establishing Smart Cities precinct.
- Investigate establishing a digital hub/s.
- Investigate provision of infrastructure for electric vehicles.
- Investigate fast broadband to industrial precincts.
- Promote access to NBN to all businesses and residents for connection to digital services.
4. Regional collaboration
Objective
To form and maintain cooperative relationships among local governments and stakeholders to collaborate on complex challenges.
Long-term strategy
Incorporate collaborative regional approaches where shared outcomes can be achieved for a cohesive and robust West Torrens economy.
Short-term strategies
- Participate in economic development activities in collaboration with other Local and State Government organisations, including regional alliances.
- Continue collaborating on current regional and Western Business Leaders Group projects.
- Identify what is needed locally to deliver long-term development that meet local needs.
- Investigate innovative solutions to procurement or shared service delivery that will improve the social, economic and environmental sustainability of western region councils.
- Develop partnership arrangements and networking opportunities with education and training providers.
Key initiatives
- Develop University and Secondary School linkage programs.
- Build upon the alliance with the City of Adelaide for the development of tourism and infrastructure.
- Develop opportunities for digital connectivity and way-finding.
- Develop a Western Alliance economic development strategy.
- Provide free business advisory referrals through Adelaide Business Hub Advisory Service.
- Promote Western Business Leaders Group business network program.
- Identify key regional projects by industry sector.
5. Adelaide Airport Aerotropolis
Objective
By leveraging the economic benefits of the Adelaide Airport upgrade and expansion, the Airport will become an integrated city equal to the successful aerotropolises around the world.
Long-term strategy
To focus on the growth around Adelaide Airport and the delivery of visitor servicing across West Torrens to increase visitor stay and spend.
Short-term strategies
- Leveraging against growth at Adelaide Airport while increasing awareness for residents, intrastate, interstate and international visitors of West Torrens as a quality visitor destination.
- Explore opportunities with the Adelaide City Council on way finding and consistent city signage.
- Investigate the clustering of additional complementary businesses.
- Investigate opportunities for visitors to stay and spend in West Torrens at either end of their visit.
Key initiatives
- Complementing Adelaide Airport’s Masterplan.
- Promoting the benefits of the Airport’s services to local businesses.
- Enhancing the visitor experience by assisting in facilitating job growth in the visitor economy to diversify the visitor experience.
- Develop tourism innovation and sustainability partnership opportunities.
- Facilitate opportunities for consultation and partnerships.
- Support opportunity for Export and Trade.
- Support opportunity for transportation links to and from Adelaide Airport.
- Tourism.
West Torrens has a number of economic strengths including retail, industrial, coastal access and proximity to tourism, access to Adelaide Airport, excellent sporting facilities and the Thebarton Biotech precinct.
Key challenges for our businesses as we move forward will be to:
- improve employment opportunities and access to training and skills development
- recognise the importance of Adelaide Airport as an employment generator and hub for business development
- encourage new job opportunities and stimulate greater employment sustainability.
Download a pdf copy of the Plan or read online.