Committee 4 Wagga chief executive Chris Fitzpatrick commended council for forward thinking by adopting the long-awaited Integrated Transport Strategy.

“I think there’s a big obligation for city leaders, councillors, strategists and politicians to be part of planning and not just look at the short term,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

“We highlighted the need for an upgraded levee bank, duplication of Glenfield Road, duplication of the Gobbagombalin Bridge and the need to plan for a bypass – now we’ve got action on all of those things.”

At Monday night’s council meeting, draft activation and open space (ROCS) strategies were placed on public exhibition, which along with the ITS form a suite of long-term planning documents aimed at coping with projected population growth.

Wagga Business Chamber president Andrew Bell believed the city would grow organically in the next 20 years, as people “migrated” from larger cities.

“More people will generate more revenue, the builders will be busy building homes for them and the council will be busy approving it, it all follows through,” he said.

“You already hear people complaining of congestion and terrible roads in Sydney, once they get a taste of living in a decent place like Wagga a lot would consider moving.”

The growth of regional centres like Wagga was part of a larger global trend according to Malcolm Gregory, a futurist who helps businesses prepare for tomorrow.

“There’s a trend for people from bigger cities to move to regional centres,” Mr Gregory said.

“You can sell your million-dollar home in Sydney, move to Wagga and work from here, which you couldn’t do 20 years ago.

“I believe the population estimates are conservative, I’d say we’re looking at 90,000 people here by 2040.”

Mr Fitzpatrick said there was a lot of really good material in council’s strategy documents and the public debate caused by a controversial study at the start of the year had put the focus back on growth.

“There’s a lot to it but it’s not all that difficult to predict the future,” he said. 

“Red Hill Road was earmarked as a bypass in the 70s and 80s but because it wasn’t reserved as a corridor time went past and the city overtook it. Given enough time the futurists are usually proved right.”