Page 1290 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 16 April 1991
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Often have I listened to the members of the Opposition talking about the need for urban consolidation. Here we have an opportunity to put into practice the sort of project which would increase the population in some of the older suburbs and make better use of the existing physical and social infrastructure. In each of the five neighbourhoods involved with these schools the current population is down by 20 to 25 per cent from the suburb's population at its peak. Making use of the opportunity afforded by the closure of the schools gives us the opportunity to go some way to balancing this loss. Members of the Opposition who periodically raise issues on the need to provide better housing for low income earners would have to agree that some of the sites would be very suitable for public housing, and the Alliance Government will therefore be consulting the ACT Housing Trust on its requirement for land in these areas.
Yesterday's Canberra Times carried a story about an alleged threat to certain existing uses adjacent to the school site in Cook. This was a somewhat dramatic interpretation of the situation. There is no such threat. The policy merely provides alternative uses if current uses were to cease - a perfectly legitimate planning activity.
The documents that have been released by the ACT Planning Authority seek public comment on the proposed new planning policies for the school sites. The period for public comment closes on 4 May. The Planning Authority will then consider the written responses and forward its recommendations to the ACT Executive and, subject to the Government's decision, the variations will then be tabled in the Legislative Assembly. As members will be aware, there is then a period during which a member can move disallowance of the variations if he believes that his position is soundly based. I believe that these opportunities for public comment are adequate. That there are proposed new uses will certainly not come as a surprise to local residents, even if it is a surprise to the members opposite.
Yesterday Mr Connolly wrote to the Planning Authority seeking reasons for the decision to propose a draft variation to the Territory Plan in respect of these school sites. The answer, Mr Connolly, is quite simple; it is the Government's policy.
I invite members of the Opposition and, indeed, all members of the general public to consider the proposals and to write to the Planning Authority on the subject. I look forward to receiving the authority's recommendations and to making a decision on the basis of planning principles, efficient use of the land and the longer term interests of the ACT community.
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