Page 1698 - Week 06 - Thursday, 3 June 2021
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Questions without notice
Planning—Coombs
MS LEE: My question is to the minister for planning. Minister, on the SLA marketing materials for Coombs in 2017 there was planned a community activity centre on section 17, block 3. Currently this site is a paddock. Minister, why now, four years later, is there still no community activity centre on section 17, block 3?
MR GENTLEMAN: I thank the member for the question. It is important that we plan for community facilities into the future. That is why we do it during our estate development planning programs. In relation to the Coombs space, I know that there is quite a bit of interest in community facilities at Coombs. I have met with the community representatives from that area. In relation to the detail of the facility being organised and sold, I will take that on notice.
MS LEE: Minister, why have Coombs residents been promised community facilities which have not been delivered?
MR GENTLEMAN: There is a time line with all delivery of facilities for the Canberra community as we go through new suburbs across the ACT. I remember moving into Higgins when it was a brand-new suburb in 1969. It took quite a while for those facilities to be built for the Canberra community. But they were constructed, and you will see that in communities that are a bit older than the newer suburbs of Coombs. So it will be done.
MR HANSON: Minister, why has the government also failed to provide functioning shops for Coombs residents?
MR GENTLEMAN: Shops are commercial entities. We provided the opportunity for commercial owners to purchase land to build shopping centres and therefore lease them out.
Planning—Woden town centre
MRS JONES: My question is to the Minister for Planning and Land Management. Minister, we know that the Labor-Greens government has approved a building for Woden town centre next to Woden town square which will be 24 storeys high. We also know that all sides of the Woden town centre’s small public square will be up to 28 storeys. On 22 May 2018 the Canberra Times reported the ACT Greens saying that a proposal for Geocon’s 16-storey hotel at Garema Place should be rejected as it would cause long-term damage due to overshadowing to the city. Minister, why is Woden’s zoning around its focal point, the town square, 28 storeys when the zoning around City Walk is unlikely to go over six?
MR GENTLEMAN: I thank Mrs Jones for the question. The design of the Woden master plan strategy goes back some time, Madam Speaker, to when you and I were still backbenchers, I think. Of course, at that time there was quite a lot of work with the Woden community on what they wanted to see for the future.
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