Page 2653 - Week 08 - Thursday, 24 August 2006
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which will inform a draft variation to the territory plan and the possible need for an amendment to the national capital plan.
Following the strong recommendations of the OECD report into Canberra’s urban renaissance in 2001, the Canberra plan and the spatial plan, in particular, place substantial emphasis on the need to strengthen City as the economic and cultural heart of Canberra. The spatial plan highlights that emphasis on City will lead to greater social, environmental and economic sustainability for the territory. As well as promoting City as a cultural and employment centre, the spatial plan advocates the provision of more opportunities for inner-city living, close to facilities and services, and thereby also reducing travel distances and the consumption of land, water and energy.
The Canberra central program was introduced to vitalise City through the coordination of policies, events, land releases, maintenance and capital works projects across all ACT government agencies and with the input and cooperation of the commonwealth government through the National Capital Authority. An experienced project director, Mr Magdy Youssef, was appointed to oversee the project.
The City West master plan was released by the authority in May 2004, and this highlighted the importance of the university in this precinct and the opportunity to develop the town/gown character. In order to activate City West and leverage off the ANU’s significant potential for the city, the government entered into an agreement with the ANU for it to buy land from the government in order to enable the university to expand, commercialise and house more of its students. To initiate the physical upgrade of City West, funds have been allocated for detailed planning, forward design and construction of Childers Street. This $6 million urban improvement program is now under way.
In response to market assessments and industry input, significant amounts of land have been sold for both commercial and residential development in the city. The large number of cranes on the city skyline reflects the major economic investment currently occurring in the city.
In addition, the Canberra central task force, overseeing the Canberra central program, was expanded to include industry and community leaders. The task force was specifically asked to provide advice on appropriate principles to inform the planning, design and financing approach for the future development of City Hill and its surrounds. This task force, under the independent chairmanship of Mr Jim Service, provided the government with a comprehensive report late last year, recommending the best approach to develop the City Hill precinct.
The expanded task force is continuing to meet on a monthly basis in order to monitor progress on the implementation of the current Canberra central program, which includes paving guidelines and street furniture palette; place management and maintenance review; spatial analysis of the city; the Childers Street arts precinct and public arts program; forward design, City West performing arts facility; improving safety in the city; improving signage, with new signage for the Canberra central area; city bus loop and bus interchange functions; the identification of real-time passenger information locations; traffic engineering investigation, traffic modelling and car parking strategy; the development of a single planning document for Canberra central; assessment and
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