Page 1536 - Week 05 - Thursday, 13 May 2021
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Mr Steel: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) The ACT Government manages its streetscapes, urban open space and assets according to programmed and reactive maintenance and servicing activities. Due to the recent La Nina weather event, plants, grass and weeds around the Canberra region have seen significant growth over the warmer months. This is a challenge that Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS) has been working to manage and has implemented a number of measures to get grass and weeds back within specification.
During the 2020/21 mowing season, the Gungahlin region including Bonner was serviced from September to April with seven mowing passes completed at monthly intervals. There are a number of grassland reserves and rocky outcrops in the Gungahlin region which are “no mow” zones due to the nature of the sites and/or conservation values.
Bonner shops and nature strips with plantings along Mabo Boulevard are the responsibility of the residents and the shops. There are regular requests from members of the community to manage weeds in this area. There is a crushed concrete drainage swale down the centre of Mabo Boulevard that is subject to a regular spray program to keep the weeds under control. TCCS has confirmed that grass and weeds along Mabo Boulevard in Bonner were sprayed in late February-early March 2021 with further follow up completed at the end of March 2021.
TCCS tree maintenance crews have commenced an extensive formative pruning program across Gungahlin to address lines of sight and public access issues. Further juvenile tree maintenance programs are being developed to support the significant increase in planting currently underway to achieve the ACT Government’s target of 30% tree canopy cover by 2045. Trees are being planted across Bonner this autumn and will continue to be planted as priorities dictate in future programs.
(2) TCCS officers address around 40,000 maintenance requests each year through Access Canberra including the Fix My Street portal. Ensuring public safety is the highest priority when triaging requests generated by the community. TCCS employs a team of skilled and experienced staff that assess requests based on need and determine the appropriate management action. All programmed works are allocated a priority with a corresponding estimation of scheduled timing. However, additional unexpected works of a higher priority, such as storm events, can extend the period of time in which previously programmed works are undertaken. Teams must often reschedule routine maintenance work to allow urgent response to address risks to the community following these unforeseen events.
(3) TCCS received 38 requests for tree related maintenance in Bonner in 2020, with five requests prioritised as low to medium, yet to be completed. To date in 2021, 12 requests for tree related maintenance have been received and seven have been completed. The remaining five have been allocated a low to medium priority. All uncompleted requests remain within the estimated time of completion according by their priority status.
TCCS received 91 requests for action on other open space maintenance during the last 12 months. 59 of these were for mowing/weed removal, nine for cleaning, 18 for illegal dumping and five for graffiti. 13 requests for mowing were prioritised for action and 46 of those requests were or will be actioned during scheduled activities. 11 illegal dumping cases were resolved with seven under investigation. Three cleaning and maintenance requests were resolved with six actioned during scheduled
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