Coordinated long-term planning involves assessing the future infrastructure needs of a place and protecting or acquiring land to accommodate assets as they are delivered. Protecting strategic infrastructure corridors reduces the cost of infrastructure delivery, makes communities confident about access to services, and minimises disruption to residents and the natural environment. For example, acquiring land before housing development occurs protects governments against land value increases and avoids expensive tunnelling and remediation costs.126
" Purchasing land for corridor protection is a relatively low-risk exercise for governments as acquiring land in the short-term does not preclude changing course in the future. "
According to Infrastructure Australia's publication Corridor protection: Planning and investing for the long term, protecting and acquiring corridors could significantly reduce total project costs.127 Protecting and acquiring land now for seven major projects was shown to save up to $10.8 billion.128
Coordinating governments and agencies is important when identifying where zoning and land acquisition are necessary to reserve space. This might be for large, disruptive infrastructure assets, such as linear infrastructure (roads, powerlines, railway tracks) or projects in fragile ecosystems such as coastal zones.
The use of land reservation for a single site that might support vertical infrastructure (offices, apartment buildings, car parks) is also of growing importance, especially in Fast-growing Cities such as Sydney and Melbourne.