Page 1357 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 10 May 1994
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Variation No. 15 concerns the extension of the Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve. This is a most significant step. It is one that began quite some time ago and clearly demonstrates the commitment of the ACT Government to the environment. The committee has endorsed the variation and also recommended that the Government take steps to ensure that the old Inglewood Homestead site is reserved and linked by an open space route to the Mulligans Flat area. Such action has been taken after appropriate consultation with bodies such as the National Trust.
Inglewood Homestead was built by Joseph Winter in about 1893, but all that remains of the house is the south-eastern corner of a double-stone wall. Fallen stones and bricks are scattered near the wall and a few pieces of rusted metal sheeting lie nearby. The Gungahlin environmental impact statement back in 1989 gave the site a low significance rating, and the fieldwork report on sites at Mulligans Flat prepared by the Canberra Archaeological Society in February 1992 recommended that the Inglewood site should be retained only if the Valley, a more substantial and significant early Gungahlin home which is currently on the interim heritage places register, was not conserved.
The Inglewood Homestead site is not within the area covered by this variation, and it is not considered appropriate to expand the nature reserve even further. However, if the decision is made to retain the Inglewood site, it can be included in the urban open space land use policy for future residential areas, with an open space link to the Mulligans Flat nature park. This issue will be studied in more detail and will have to be submitted to the PDI Committee before any residential development is undertaken in the vicinity of the homestead.
The proposed extension of the nature reserve area reduces the current planned urban area by about 300 hectares, or approximately 4,000 building sites. However, this loss of housing blocks needs to be considered against the benefits to the community of a valuable ecological, cultural, recreational and educational resource. The Government, including the committee, has decided that this is the appropriate path to take.
Madam Speaker, this variation is an extremely good example of how the Government's consultation process can work to achieve an acceptable outcome for all concerned. The extended boundaries of the proposed nature reserve have been determined in close consultation with the Conservation Council of the South-East Region and Canberra, the Society for Growing Australian Plants, the Field Naturalists Association of Canberra, the Canberra Ornithologists Group, the ACT Herpetological Association, the National Parks Association of the ACT and the Canberra Archaeological Society. I commend those organisations for their enthusiasm and cooperation with the Planning Authority and the Parks and Conservation Branch.
Variation No. 16 concerns a proposal to remove the restaurant restriction from the block of land currently occupied by the Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Club. The variation was referred to the committee in May, and the committee has endorsed that proposal. I have heard the comments made by members. I can advise that the traffic and parking review will be undertaken by the Department of Urban Services at the completion of the project and that the mature landscaping requirement has been included in the implementation guidelines applicable to any redevelopment of the site.
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