A slither of the 3000 hectares at West Dapto slated for development. Photo: Andy Zakeli.
A city the size of Wagga Wagga is poised to spring up on Wollongong’s doorstep, but are we ready for it?
Barely a month goes by without an announcement about West Dapto, from a new public school to the year-long closure of West Dapto Road for upgrades.
There’s a reason for all that work – the development isn’t just a new suburb. It’s a whole new city.
West Dapto will be home to more than 55,000 new residents in 20,000 new homes on 3000 hectares over the next 50 years.
Former Whitlam MP Stephen Jones, when announcing the Darkes Sporting and Community Hub at Stream Hill in November 2024, said it would be “the size of Wagga”.
Infrastructure to support the growing population remains thin on the ground and all levels of government are scrambling to prepare the area for tens of thousands of new residents.
In 2012, the NSW Government announced the state’s largest private hospital would be established at West Dapto, the Illawarra International Health precinct, but it never materialised.
Residents continue to rely on the services provided by Wollongong and Shellharbour hospitals and the Dapto Urgent Care Clinic.
Wagga, for its population of 68,000, boasts a public base hospital and the private Calvary Riverina Hospital.
Both offer emergency, surgical and maternity services.
Earlier this year the NSW Labor Government announced funds for the new West Dapto Primary School.
A new primary school with an attached preschool for Calderwood was also announced in the most recent NSW budget, with the primary school expected to open in 2028.
Dapto Public School, Dapto High School and Calderwood Christian School are the only schools currently in the area.
In late 2024, the NSW Government announced it would seek to identify a potential transport corridor between the Illawarra Highway at Albion Park and the M1 at Yallah.
The corridor would need to fit the complex jigsaw of transport works already flagged for the surrounding area, such as new south-facing ramps onto the M1 from Dapto, connections with the proposed Yallah interchange, the extension of Tripoli Way at Albion Park and the Northcliffe Drive extension at Kembla Grange.
Local roads and homes are plagued by flooding, leaving some West Dapto suburbs cut off in heavy rainfall.
Early in 2025 the NSW Government announced the remainder of stage three of the West Dapto urban release area would be rezoned and planning controls in the Cleveland Road precinct would be amended to enable the delivery of 225 new homes on land previously identified as flood-prone.
It is understood the rezoning is the result of more detailed flood modelling, suggesting those sites are not at significant risk.
Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown acknowledged flood risks posed a challenge.
“We’re building on swamp land, a lot of it, so getting the infrastructure right is critical,” she said.
“It’s had to be very carefully planned, and costs keep going up.
“We’re trying to get more housing into the market as sustainably as possible, then you have to fit in sports fields, community centres and villages, footpaths, cycleways, stormwater, the list goes on.”
The Lord Mayor said Wollongong City Council had already spent $100 million on new roads and had allocated another $43 million over the next four budgets.
Despite the speed, scale and complexity of the development, Cr Brown said she was confident infrastructure would keep pace with development.
“It’s been staged carefully so pockets of housing will pop up as the infrastructure is there,” she said.
“That’s why the West Dapto development will take another 50 years.”
State and federal funds for major road projects in West Dapto are essential.
They’re also essential for making sure health and education infrastructure can support the influx of residents.
Member for Shellharbour Anna Watson said the NSW Government had known Dapto was one of the fastest-growing areas in the state since 2011.
“It’s almost like a forgotten city,” she said.
“In 2012 I begged the Liberal Government to purchase land to build fire stations, ambulances, new schools.
“They refused to do that and now we’re scrambling.”
She said West Dapto suburbs would eventually need a total of eight new primary schools and three new high schools.
As for health, the new Shellharbour Hospital will bear most of the load.
Ms Watson said for the Shellharbour Hospital to do that job effectively it must have birthing and paediatric services.
“A big reason why the site for Shellharbour Hospital was chosen was to redirect traffic from Dapto and West Dapto away from the overcrowded Wollongong Emergency Department,” Ms Watson said.
“It’s in the middle of the electorate and we have an opportunity to ensure we have the whole suite of women’s and children’s services available.
“I’ve told [Health Minister] Ryan Park I won’t back away from this.”
Once it’s finished West Dapto might not even be part of Ms Watson’s electorate anymore – it would be big enough to warrant a new electorate, and maybe even a new local council, of its own.
