Armadale, Western Australia

ARMADALE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA A place of growth, a place of opportunity Located 28km from the Perth CBD, the City of Armadale is one of the fastest growing local government areas in Western Australia. Its current population of approximately 91,700 is forecast to grow to 152,000 by 2041, paving the way for Armadale to become a major employment hub for the growing south-eastern metropolitan region. Residents and visitors enjoy the impressive scenic beauty, dining choices, boutique wineries, bush trails, shopping and exceptional aquatic and recreational facilities, there is something for everyone. With the Armadale City Centre already a designated Strategic Metropolitan Activity Centre, it represents an ideal place for growth and business opportunity. Business View Oceania spoke with recently retired (Oct 2019) City of Armadale Mayor Henry Zelones, OAM, JP and the City’s Manager of Economic Development & Advocacy, Luis Puig, for their insights into the City’s past achievements, current projects, and future goals and initiatives. The following is an edited transcript of our conversation. BVO: Can you give us an overview of Armadale from an economic perspective? Zelones: “I’ve been an elected member of the City of Armadale for nearly 30 years, the last eight as Mayor. At the beginning of my term, we established for the first time an Economic Development Office led by a professionally qualified and experienced Economic Officer to provide advice to the Council, Administration and myself on all matters of economic development. We did that with the view that the City was growing very rapidly; the population over the last eight years has soared from about 60,000 to more than 90,000 residents. With additional commercial and industrial developments being built throughout the City, we needed a policy that would assist in finding jobs and satisfying the local needs. That led us to developing an economic development growth policy, an advocacy program, and the latest addition is our Business Investment Prospectus. “The Western Australian Local Government Act requires that we develop a Community Growth Plan which has a 15-year horizon, and a Corporate Business Plan which sets out the Council’s community development projections for the next four to five years. Along with that, we’ve developed a number of other strategies to assist with our lobbying efforts with State and Federal governments for funding assistance. “Our locality is known for its range of lifestyles, from the rural agricultural setting right through to the higher density residential areas. We’re building two new industrial estates: one is about one-third completed and some very big companies have already moved in. The Western Australian State Government is involved in developing the AT A GLANCE ARMADALE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA WHAT: Fast growing city; population approx. 91,700 WHERE: Suburb of Perth, WA WEBSITE: www.armadale.wa.gov.au Harrisdale Suburb