Coordinate corridor reservations

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. Corridors can always be sold if they choose not to deliver an asset, usually for more than the purchase price.129

However, land acquisition does carry significant upfront costs. To manage them, there should be centralised government acquisition and management, so infrastructure co-location, precinct development and agency costs can be shared.

While corridor or asset reservation should be overseen by the respective agency, all the lands should be centrally managed before their use to ensure land is not held unnecessarily and remains available for the highest-value use.

The benefits of corridor acquisition are widely understood within the local community.130 Governments should therefore develop funding mechanisms to support acquisition and development, such as levies on adjacent land and infrastructure service catchments. One proven example is the Western Australian Government's Metropolitan Region Improvement Tax, which has made a significant contribution to meeting and minimising infrastructure costs while maintaining community support.131

To ensure the land is not developed for other long-term purposes such as housing, and to facilitate complementary land uses, protection for strategic corridors and sites will need to be embedded in land use plans.132 Corridor protection should not be reserved exclusively for transport infrastructure. It is also applicable to strategic blue and green infrastructure corridors to support future growth areas, such as Western Sydney.

When selecting short-term land uses for strategic lands, it is important to avoid sterilising the corridor by selecting a more attractive use than its long-term alternative. By actively managing reserved land, governments can identify whether the temporary use is entrenched, sterilising its long-term role. If this happens, an alternative corridor will need to be protected.

For instance, after more than 70 years of reservation, the F6 Freeway corridor in New South Wales will be retained for use as green infrastructure and the planned motorway will be directed into tunnels. The change in strategy recognises changing needs in that community,