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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 4832 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The higher figure for Woden Plaza reflects the fact that approximately 5,000 square metres of floor space in the current lease is not currently in use for retailing. The lessee's proposals involve using this entitlement, together with approximately 17,000 square metres sought in this application.

Both the Government and the Assembly are acutely aware of the issues surrounding retailing in Canberra at present. The Government's retailing strategy, released earlier this year, is an approach to a complex set of issues where we need to balance a commitment to the benefits of the retail hierarchy for all ACT residents with the need for a flexible approach which responds to changes in community needs and preferences. We are all aware that changes in working hours and employment participation rates have led to an increasing reliance on town centres for food shopping, which was originally concentrated in local group centres. Nevertheless, we are also conscious of the need to retain accessible and convenient shops for those members of the community who cannot readily access the larger town centres.

In both cases, the further environmental assessment required in the form of a public environment report was to respond to the issues of economic impacts, social impacts, traffic and parking, and the overall scale of development proposed. In the case of the Hyperdome, these elements were supplemented by the need to look at access, because the proposal involves closing a significant road access. In relation to the economic impacts, I do not believe that it is the Government's role to intervene directly in the development approval process simply to protect existing retail from competition. On the other hand, it would be irresponsible for the Government to allow expansions of a magnitude which could potentially alter the overall retail structure of the city or run the risk of rendering existing local centres unviable.

I turn to the detailed evaluation of the PER for the Hyperdome. The proposal involves a total of 16,300 square metres retail, including a discount department store of approximately 7,000 square metres, almost 6,000 square metres of specialty shops, with a balance of mini-majors and minor expansion of the existing supermarket. The Hyperdome proposal does not involve any new supermarkets, but will improve their attractiveness and accessibility by relocation. I have made several recommendations as a result of the work contained in the PER. In particular, I am concerned to ensure legible and safe access for pedestrians and to ensure that the community uses, such as the child-care centre, remain adequate.

The PER argues that the primary and secondary trade area for the Hyperdome will support the level of expansion proposed without unacceptable impacts on other town centres and the group and local centres in these areas. As I mentioned earlier, this analysis did not look at the combined impacts of both Woden and Tuggeranong. In these circumstances, my evaluation has had to rely on the advice of the Planning and Land Management Group. Their advice, based on their own modelling using the Ibecon model, endorsed by the Government as part of our retail strategy, is that the magnitude of the proposal would have unacceptable impacts on local centres in Tuggeranong. However, their report recognises that there is a relative undersupply of retail space per capita in the Tuggeranong primary trade area and that the Tuggeranong Town Centre's location as an outboard centre also inhibits its ability to retain as high a percentage of district retailing as other town centres.

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