• Inside Sydney’s newest suburb
• Last backyard in Sydney

What were once vegetable fields and livestock farms that helped feed the city are treeless new suburbs where athletic kids can almost jump from rooftop to rooftop.

Suburbs going from paddock to pavement in the next decade include Vineyard and Marsden Park in the north west, Leppington and Edmondson Park in the south west and Wilton and the Macarthur region south of Campbelltown.

These areas will have 333,000 new homes and 322,120 new jobs in the next 20 years.

Work has already begun on Sydney’s second airport at Badgerys Creek. Once completed it will be home to 60,000 new dwellings and bring with it 200,000 jobs.

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An 11,200 ha site around the airport will include the development of the semirural suburb of Rossmore into a mix of medium and high-density housing.

While in the Greater Macarthur Growth Area 58,000 new homes are expected with the development of south Glenfield into a mix of low-density housing and retail bringing with it 40,000 jobs with the expansion of education, trades and industrial jobs.

Further south in the Wilton Growth Area, an extra 15,000 homes will be centred around the township of Wilton, connecting to Bingara Gorge.

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The state government says greenfield growth is a plus for homebuyers, jobseekers and a booming NSW economy.

The Greater Sydney Commission’s Western City plan will mean, in theory, that those living west of Blacktown can stay there for work and play.

The aim is to have a maximum of 30-minute commutes.

The state government also argues they are planting five million trees in Greater Sydney in the next four years to increase canopy cover.

But the reality for many residents is an over-reliance on their cars, 90 minute commutes, and distance to schools and healthcare. And no trees.

“If I was there you would find me wanting to push for a greater tree canopy,” Hornsby Mayor and former immigration minister Philip Ruddock told The Sunday Telegraph.

*“I went to Camden and, quite frankly, when I look at blocks that are cheek by the jowl — with no adequate setbacks, tree planting or appropriate reservations — they are appalling.

“That reflects on those governments that were allowing that to happen 10-15 years ago.

“I drove back through it and saw kilometre after kilometre (of houses) which I hadn’t anticipated or expected.”

Another 12,300 houses are expected to the built in the Camden Local Government Area in the next four years.

For every two detached houses built in Sydney there are eight apartments erected, according to Infrastructure Australia.

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But the reality is hundreds of apartments can occupy the land that four houses do.

As a result, Sydney keeps on going out.

*Western Sydney University’ Associate Professor of Urban Planning Awais Piracha said he would not have so many homes being built so far from the city.

He believes that only one in ten dwellings built should be detached houses, with the rest being apartments and homes in established areas.

One of the suburbs at the edge of this sprawl is Oran Park, which has seen its population go from 169 people in 2011 to its current 8000.

Oran Park, in Sydney’s southwest, was hailed as our new healthy living development but research has revealed its residents are reliant on cars, with some suffering through an “extreme commute”.

A University of Sydney study has found its residents are experiencing longer trips to work with their average journey-time increasing from 35 minutes to about 50 minutes one way.

And one in five reported they were now dealing with an “extreme commute” — spending 90 minutes travelling each way.

Researcher Dr Jennifer Kent said the study of nearly 320 Oran Park residents showed living in a bigger home had influenced their decision to relocate.

“Basically people weren’t really interested or motivated by trying to reduce their travel times,” Dr Kent said.

“They were much more interested in providing their kids with green open places to play in, having access to good schools, having their own backyard, having a house that’s big enough to be able to provide for a family than they were about spending less time in a car.”

With no train station and limited public transport options, Dr Kent said longer commutes from Oran Park were causing anxiety, stress and feelings of unhappiness among residents.

Dr Kent said it was only a matter of time until it also affected their physical health.

Oran Park was developed using the Heart Foundation’s Healthy Active By Design guidelines with locals having access to walking and cycling paths.

“It’s an interesting site in that it was specifically designed to encourage a healthy lifestyle,” Dr Kent said.

“They really tried to do the right thing but at the end of the day, if the state government doesn’t come up with the transport infrastructure and the connectivity to other uses then people’s health is going to be impacted.”

The state government has flagged plans to build a train station in the booming suburb, but it’s unlikely to open in the next decade.

The closest station is 13km away at Leppington.

Dr Kent said with an infrastructure lag, the government’s plans for 30-minute commutes across Sydney were currently “an impossible dream”.

“If that’s what we’re basing our hopes for a city on, we’re in trouble,” she said.

In a report released earlier this week, Federal Government body Infrastructure Australia urged the state government to stop the sprawl and make sure more houses were built close to public transport, schools and shops.

“It is not desirable or affordable for governments to continue accommodating the projected population growth in new greenfield areas on the fringes,” the report said.

A Department of Planning spokeswoman says it “does not agree with this statement with regards to Sydney”.

A separate NSW Auditor General’s report released this week found the NSW Department of Planning will struggle to meet infrastructure spending targets in the next four years.

This is despite 196,750 new dwellings being built across Sydney between 2017 and 2022.

A Transport for NSW spokesman said since March 2011, the NSW Government has added over 3,300 new weekly bus services to routes in Northwest and Southwest Growth Centres and Western Sydney Aerotropolis.

“Sydney Metro Northwest, which is due to open in the second quarter of next year, is delivering 13 metro railway stations in Sydney’s north west, with trains running between Tallawong and Chatswood every four minutes in the peak in each direction,” he said.

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“Transport for NSW is looking at the future needs of Western Sydney and is working with the community to protect a comprehensive network of transport corridors needed to support future growth, and provide for the planned new Western Sydney Airport and the proposed Western Parkland City north of Oran Park.”

A Department of Planning spokesman said “far from being ‘on the fringes’, residents — whether they are first time buyers, downsizers, families or individuals — living in greenfield areas around the ‘three cities’ model not only benefit from proximity but also from housing diversity, choice and affordability.”

“Greenfield land releases, tied to infrastructure delivery, will help to secure the creation of over 200,000 new jobs for the Western Parkland City, leveraging the economic opportunities of the Western Sydney Airport,” the DoP spokeswoman said.

“It is important there is a diversity of new housing choices available to support the development of the new Parkland City.”