Sydney Region Outline Plan

The Sydney Region Outline Plan (SROP) was a land use and infrastructure scheme for metropolitan New South Wales released by the State Planning Authority in March 1968. The SROP superseded the 1948 County of Cumberland planning scheme. Whereas the Cumberland scheme echoed contemporary plans for London, the SROP adopted a Scandinavian model of town centres arranged along existing railway corridors.

Although the SROP was replaced long before its 30-year time horizon, and many of its ideas were never put into practice, according to veteran planner Bob Meyer, "the shape of Sydney today is exactly as planned" in 1968. By focusing development on growth corridors along the rail network, the plan "has allowed Sydney to reach a population of 4.5 million people and achieve the highest use of public transport of any Australian city." According to the Dictionary of Sydney, the "Sydney Region Outline Plan set the basic blueprint for metropolitan corridor development in evidence today."

The Cumberland planners had correctly anticipated the growth of both demand for low-density suburban living and private motor vehicles by setting aside new residential growth areas and corridors for future expressways. But, 20 years on, other changes were making demands on the urban structure: new energy and communications infrastructure, the containerisation of freight, the emergence of new industries and the growth of air travel. Reflecting the fashion of its time, the Cumberland scheme sought to encircle the Sydney of 1948 with a London-style green belt several kilometres wide, a proposal which did not enjoy widespread support – from green belt landowners or State government departments. The green belt was formally abandoned in 1960 under pressure from the Commonwealth, which saw the scheme as a costly impediment to postwar growth. The county council – controlled by representatives of the city's many local councils – was abolished in 1963 and replaced with a new State Planning Authority.

The State Planning Authority (SPA) was a NSW Government agency established under the State Planning Authority Act 1963 Commencing operations on 19 December 1963, the SPA replaced the Cumberland and Northumberland county councils, and absorbed the town planning functions of the Department of Local Government.

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