Cessnock Council to invite Google and Amazon to consider setting up in Cessnock LGA

Councillors unanimously supported Cr Jay Suvaal’s notice of motion at Wednesday night’s meeting – which requested council reach out to both companies with the aim to bring jobs to town.

Cr Suvaal’s motion was inspired by recent reports of Google looking for a new location for its Australian headquarters and Amazon looking to construct warehouses in Australia.

“It might be a long reach, but it’s something that we’ve got to do to get big business to town,” Cr Suvaal said.

Cr Suvaal said availability of commercial land, the affordable lifestyle and great community would be drawcards for these businesses to relocate to the Cessnock local government area.

Council will provide an information package about the benefits of moving to the local government area and information on possible development sites to Google and Amazon, and will make that package available to any other relevant businesses.

Councillor Rod Doherty said while he supported the motion, he was “somewhat disappointed” that councillors had to raise such questions, when council staff should be searching for such opportunities, and that the council did not have an economic prospectus available.

General manager Stephen Glen said the economic prospectus is “on the agenda”.

“We’re moving it along as quickly as we can.”

Cr Suvaal acknowledged that while council staff do have a role to play in seizing such opportunities, councillors should also be “actively promoting the city” to try to bring jobs to the area.

Cessnock Chamber of Commerce president Geoff Walker supported the idea.

“Letting people know Cessnock is open for business is critical,” he said.

“Big business, any size business is great… it’s got to help the town, and the LGA.”

The motion comes just weeks after Cessnock Council made a submission to the Senate inquiry into the relocation of corporate Commonwealth entities to regional areas, calling for the federal government to consider relocating Commonwealth offices to the LGA.

3 May 2017, 12:30 a.m.

A motion aiming to bring big business to Cessnock City will come to council on Wednesday night.

Councillor Jay Suvaal will ask the council to write to Google and Amazon requesting they consider setting up operations in the Cessnock local government area.

His motion was inspired by recent reports of Google looking for a new location for its Australian headquarters and Amazon looking to construct warehouses in Australia.

Cr Suvaal said the availability of commercial land (including the Hunter Economic Zone and Hydro sites at Kurri Kurri, and recently-rezoned land at Black Hill), transport links and the opportunity for workers to be a part of “a fantastic local community” would be great reasons for these companies to consider expanding their operations to the Cessnock LGA.

“As councillors we want to promote the city and try to bring jobs to the area… why not reach out?” he said.

“We have a great community and services, access to the wine region, it’s a great place to live, and it’s so much cheaper for (their) staff to live here (than in a big city).”

Cessnock Chamber of Commerce president Geoff Walker supported the idea.

“Letting people know Cessnock is open for business is critical,” he said.

“Big business, any size business is great… it’s got to help the town, and the LGA.”

Cr Suvaal’s motion will ask council to provide both companies with an information package about the benefits of moving to the local government area and information on possible development sites.

The motion comes just weeks after Cessnock Council made a submission to the Senate inquiry into the relocation of corporate Commonwealth entities to regional areas, calling for the federal government to consider relocating Commonwealth offices to the LGA.