“Urbanism works when it creates a journey as desirable as the destination.”
Paul Goldberger, American architecture critic
Penrith has an opportunity to build on the success of its river precinct, connecting it more strongly with the city centre and the next generation of visitor destinations.
The Riverlink Tourism Precinct is already one of Penrith’s great success stories. Set in a tranquil location beside the Nepean River, at the foot of the Blue Mountains, it brings together recreation, hospitality, accommodation, entertainment and some of Western Sydney’s leading adventure attractions.
Its potential lies in an unusual combination.
Riverlink can offer something of Hyde Park’s role as a green recreational meeting place – somewhere people walk, exercise, gather and spend time outdoors, together with the Yarra Valley’s appeal as a distinctive visitor precinct, where landscape, dining, accommodation and experiences encourage people to stay longer and explore more widely.
Riverlink isn’t trying to replicate either destination, though.
It has its own distinctly Western Sydney character: active, accessible, family-friendly and grounded in the river landscape. But the comparison shows what becomes possible when natural assets, public spaces, hospitality businesses and visitor attractions are planned as a connected whole.
Penrith City Council’s Draft Our River Plan 2026–46 recognises the progress already made and sets out a long-term vision for a more accessible, connected and active river corridor.
There’s much to support in the Draft Plan.
Its identification of the Central Precinct as “The Heart of Our River City” is particularly important.
So too is its focus on connecting the river with Penrith City Centre, improving pedestrian and cycling links, strengthening the Jamison Road gateway and continuing to develop the river as a place for tourism, recreation and community life.
But a 20-year plan must do more than respond to the Penrith of today. It must prepare for the city Penrith is rapidly becoming.
Plan for growth before it arrives
Experience great food at Sinclair's in Penrith, featuring modern Australian cuisine inspired by the Nepean River and crafted with fresh local produce. Photo: Sinclair's
Winter Sports World will represent approximately $700 million in private tourism investment. It is forecast to attract more than 1.3 million visitors annually, create around 2,700 jobs across construction and ongoing operations and contribute approximately $222 million to the economy each year.
Those visitors and workers will not simply appear and disappear at the boundary of our site. They will move through Penrith. They will arrive by train, bus, coach, car and bicycle. They will stay in local hotels, eat in local restaurants, walk beside the river and visit other attractions.
Or at least, they should.
Whether that happens will depend on the connections we create.
A destination of this scale should not function as an island. Its success should generate activity across the wider city, helping more visitors discover the Great River Walk, Tench Reserve, Panthers, Penrith’s adventure attractions, its hospitality businesses and growing city centre.
The best time to plan for those movements is before the growth arrives – now, not retrospectively when roads, transport services and pedestrian connections are already under pressure.
Create genuine gateway
Rowers enjoying a morning paddle on the Nepean River, Penrith. Photo: Destination NSW
The Draft Plan identifies the Jamison Road Gateway as a priority project. I believe it should become an early implementation priority.
Jamison Road is one of the main approaches to the southern Riverlink Tourism Precinct, leading towards Tench Avenue, Winter Sports World and the Nepean River.
Yet if you’re unfamiliar with Penrith, the current journey has no sense of approach at one of the city’s most important natural, recreation and tourism precincts. There’s no unmistakable arrival point and limited visual connection with the river.
That needs to change.
A genuine Jamison Road–Tench Avenue gateway would involve more than landscaping and signage.
It should consider road geometry and speed, pedestrian safety, cycle connections, public transport, visitor and coach movements, lighting, wayfinding, tree management and opportunities to create stronger visual awareness of the river.
The outcome should be clear: when residents and visitors travel along Jamison Road, they should know they have arrived at the Nepean River and the Riverlink Tourism Precinct.
This is not merely an aesthetic exercise. A well-designed gateway shapes behaviour. It slows traffic, improves safety, makes walking and cycling more appealing and helps visitors understand how different destinations relate to one another.
Join the dots
A family enjoys a picnic on the Nepean River, Penrith. Photo: Adam Hollingworth
The Draft Plan rightly seeks stronger connections between the river precinct and Penrith City Centre. But those links need to be planned as one legible movement network rather than a collection of separate projects.
The vision should be simple:
Penrith Station → Penrith City Centre → City Park → Panthers and Riverlink → Jamison Road → Winter Sports World → Tench Reserve → Nepean River and the Great River Walk
That connection must cater for more than cyclists. It should include attractive pedestrian routes, practical bus services, group and tourist transport, appropriate road links and consistent wayfinding.
Public transport will be especially important as Riverlink is becoming both a visitor destination and a major employment precinct. Bus planning must therefore consider direct routes, service frequency and operating hours, not only during the traditional commuter peaks but at times visitors, hospitality employees and recreation users travel.
Someone arriving at Penrith Station should be able to understand immediately how to reach the river and Winter Sports World. Equally, someone visiting Winter Sports World should be encouraged to continue into the City Centre or spend time beside the Nepean.
Every unnecessary barrier between those places is a missed opportunity for Penrith businesses.
Test best place to cross
The Yandhai Nepean Crossing. Photo: David Hill, Deep Hill Media
The Draft Plan proposes an additional pedestrian and cycling crossing near the M4.
Improved river crossings are welcome, but a project of that significance warrants a comparative assessment before its location becomes embedded in long-term planning.
The M4 corridor already provides a pedestrian crossing, although its accessibility is limited. Council should also test whether a crossing closer to Jamison Road, Tench Avenue and Riverlink could deliver greater value.
Such an assessment should examine visitor demand, links with Winter Sports World and Tench Reserve, connections to the Great River Walk, the potential to create new recreational loops, pedestrian safety, environmental impacts, flooding, land ownership and constructability.
The result should not be predetermined. The objective is simply to ensure Penrith builds the right crossing in the right place.
Co-ordinate public & private investment
The Real Festival on the banks of the Nepean River. Photo: Penrith City Council
Public investment along the Nepean River has already helped catalyse private investment. Now that relationship can operate in both directions.
Major private investment provides a clear reason to prioritise complementary public infrastructure. Planning for the Jamison Road gateway, bus services, walking and cycling links, wayfinding and the broader visitor arrival experience can proceed alongside Winter Sports World’s development.
Some actions – transport analysis, concept planning, wayfinding and stakeholder co-ordination – can begin relatively quickly. Medium-term works can deliver road, public-domain and transport improvements. Larger infrastructure, including any new river crossing, can follow once the necessary assessment and funding are in place.
A transparent sequence of short-, medium- and long-term priorities would also strengthen the council’s case when seeking support from the NSW and Australian governments.
The Draft Our River Plan already contains many of the right ingredients. The opportunity now is to connect them, establish priorities and align delivery with the growth already underway.
Over the next 20 years, Penrith’s Central Precinct will change substantially. Winter Sports World will be one part of that transformation, but its broader value will be determined by how effectively it connects with the river, the City Centre and the wider visitor economy.
If we plan those connections now, the benefits can flow well beyond any individual attraction and help make the Nepean River not just an asset beside Penrith but a defining part of how the city moves, gathers and grows.