WA Planning Commission and Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage recently released the draft Bunbury Geographe Sub-regional Strategy for comment.

Setting an aspirational population target of 200,000 for Bunbury Geographe over the next 20-30 years, the State Government formally recognises the Region with high growth potential and Bunbury Urban area as WA’s Second City.

“If visionary decisions are made today, it is possible that the ongoing growth of the capital cities will result in the rise of satellite cities that are able to offer a coastal suburban lifestyle within two hours’ travel from a capital city. Satellite cities such as Wollongong, Newcastle, Geelong and Bunbury are expected to thrive into the future if connecting infrastructure is developed, such as high-speed rail, that enables access to capital city opportunity”.

The Sub-regional Strategy sets about planning for and managing this growth.