New Growth Strategy Coming For City

Common Council is being urged to set targets for future residential growth of 50 per cent in the urban core and 40 per cent in suburban areas. Craig Benning of Hemson Consulting says rural growth should be limited because of dollars and cents.......Providing city services to the more remote areas where fewer people live doesn't make good financial sense.




Benning does warn the financial benefits from this change won't start to be realised until after 2017 and will gradually increase to 2031.


Saint John's population by 2017 is projected to be 66 thousand. For the past couple of decades only 15 per cent of residential development has been taking place in the urban core.