Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .
Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 10 Hansard (5 December) . . Page.. 2657 ..
Report on Draft Variation to the Territory Plan - Gungahlin Town Centre and Central Area
That the report be noted.
This is a significant move not only for the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment but also for the Territory. This is probably the last time that a town centre as such, as part of a variation to the Territory Plan, will come before this Assembly. Certainly, it will be the last for some time, because I believe that there are no new town centres planned for the foreseeable future. In planning terms, "foreseeable future" is half a century or more.
The variation to the Territory Plan for the Gungahlin Town Centre has been down a rocky road. It was the predecessor of the Planning and Environment Committee, the Planning Committee of the previous Assembly, that rejected the variation to the Territory Plan on the previous occasion, suggesting that the Gungahlin Town Centre at that stage could not go ahead because of the presence of an internationally endangered species, the legless lizard, or Delma impar. The Planning Authority has come back to the committee, through the Minister, and presented a different plan for the Tuggeranong - I mean, the Gungahlin Town Centre. I get distracted, because I have a member who sits next to me and says to me all the time, "But Tuggeranong, but Tuggeranong, but Tuggeranong". It would appear that it has finally had some impact.
The Gungahlin Town Centre has now been redesigned and basically has been swung around on an axis to provide a habitat for the legless lizard. What will come from what was presented to us by the Planning Authority - and it carried some weight with our committee - is that the people of Gungahlin will have the opportunity now to be proud of the fact that they are able to use a town centre and be part of a town centre in the middle of their community that is surrounded by an area specifically set aside to protect an endangered species. There will be a great swath of Australian native grassland next to the town centre, which will be testimony to the environmental consciousness of that town centre. Similarly, there is a public transport route which may well be used in the future for light rail or may well be used in the interim for another form of intertown public transport. The design will allow access from the Gungahlin Town Centre not only to Civic but also to Belconnen.
There were a number of submissions made to our committee last week that raised issues about the Gungahlin Town Centre, and our committee determined that we would deal with them as quickly as we possibly could. We did that, because the Gungahlin Community Council and the Gungahlin community generally have been very enthusiastic
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .