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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 10 Hansard (5 December) . . Page.. 2660 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

I know that the people of Gungahlin were concerned about their town centre, and so they ought to be, because it is an important part of the community and one which will form the soul of the community in future years. One disappointment, of course, is that a building promised by Labor on that site will not go ahead. That will detract from the future development of that site, but I know that Assembly members are still interested in ensuring a government presence there to provide an employment base.

Mr Moore: We should send DELP there, should we not?

MR BERRY: Perhaps we could even send DELP there.

Mr Humphries: Be my guest. You go right ahead. You will not be able to do so because you were so advised before the last election.

Mr Connolly: As we directed them to do it.

MR BERRY: They were directed to do something about that. It did not happen. That was a great pity, because that would have been an early step into the creation of a solid centre for that community. The people of Gungahlin can now look across those preserved plains and know that they are a habitat for the legless lizards, an endangered species. If an appropriate course could not have been found to save them, then I am sure that the Liberals would have turned the first sod whether or not Delma impar was saved.

MR KAINE (3.31): Anybody who has been observing the development of the plan for the town centre would note how different in physical form the plan that is now before us is from the one that was put forward not much more than a year ago. It says something about the resilience of our planners that in less than a year, after having their original plan knocked back, they came back with another plan, a new plan, based on the fact that almost one-third of the land that was originally intended to be developed was excised for the legless lizard and a plan which still fits neatly on the block and which generally has the endorsement of the community that the town centre is going to serve. It is worth noting that they have done, in my view, a very good job, having had to go back to the drawing board such a short time ago.

One of the things that need to be commented upon is that, if you look at the map which is at page 2 of this report, the area in black which is identified as the town centre is only stage one. It is planned that, as the need arises, there will be a phased development. The development will occur towards the east of that area that is defined in black along the axis of the east-west roads. That raises a question in my mind. I know that some people have reservations about the nature of this development. For example, one eminent developer who had a great interest in the area raised the question of whether what is going to be built there is truly an urban village. It certainly does not coincide with his original impression of what an urban village was. He will not mind if I mention his name. Bob Winnel put forward a very comprehensive plan a year or so ago to build what he considered to be a true urban village there. I must say that, to some degree, I share his reservations because the map, as it stands at the moment, does not, in my view, look much like what I thought an urban village was going to look like.

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