A regional perspective is important in land use planning, as a solution for a particular site should make sense within the context of the larger community. This section presents an assessment of the CBRM’s economy, land use, transportation systems, recreational needs, municipal sewer and water supplies, and regional infrastructure, relative to the SYSCO property.

These changes in the CBRM economy have not taken place within a vacuum; they reflect the following world-wide trends:

• The development of steel manufacturing capacity in second and third world countries
• The depletion of global fish stocks
• Intense price competition in the coal industry
• A shift to cleaner fuels for energy generation.

Like other regional economies in developed countries, the CBRM economy has responded to these trends by shifting towards the service sector and more recently, towards the knowledge based economy (e.g., communications, software and hardware design and technology intense manufacturing). Recent improvements in the Canadian and global telecommunication infrastructure have also made it possible for the CBRM to participate in the world market for service and knowledge based jobs.

Population Demographics Within the CBRM

The population of the greater Sydney area peaked in 1961 at about 131,000 people. The following forty years were marked by a consistent decline in the population base, to 109,330 people (2001 Census) a 16.5% decline.

An analysis of CBRM’s 1996* population structure indicates the following points:

• 28.4% of the CBRM’s population is between the ages of 25 and 44, compared to 32.1% for the rest of Nova Scotia
• 32% of people over the age of 15 do not have a high school diploma compared to 27% in the rest Nova Scotia
• 8.4% of persons over the age of 15 have a university degree while in the rest of Nova Scotia about 12.9% percent have a university degree.

*2001 data describing the socio-economic structure will begin to be released in July 2002