Page 2654 - Week 08 - Thursday, 24 August 2006
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recommendation of options for a city improvements fund; a Christmas in the city program, along with a calendar of events; and ongoing land releases.
As well as these three major initiatives, the spatial plan implementation over only two years has seen strategic land releases in town centres, the protection of future areas for conservation, the completion of bushfire guidelines, cross-border negotiations on water and settlement, the release of the draft water-sensitive urban design guidelines and a major program to overhaul the entire development assessment and planning system. Whilst planning system reform is not expressly mentioned in the recommended actions of the plans, it is nonetheless worthy of comment because of its implications for the efficient and effective delivery of the planning and development aspirations contained in the plans.
It has long been recognised that the ACT has a complex and cumbersome planning system, and the goal of the planning system reform project is to deliver simpler, faster and more effective planning outcomes for the territory. A range of discussions on reform proposals were prepared and subjected to a public consultation processes in mid-2005. The exposure draft of the new legislation and the structure of the new territory plan have already been released for public comment. In the meantime, significant inroads have been made into the performance of the planning system through short-term reforms to administrative processes and practices.
I now turn briefly to the issue of the sustainable transport plan and our progress on its implementation. The sustainable transport plan is consistent with the spatial plan and will help deliver the strategic direction for Canberra over the next 25 years. Both plans depend on each other for success. Achieving sustainable transport goals requires a more contained city with less need to travel and shorter travel distances. Replacing some of our car travel with walking, cycling and public transport trips will have major benefits for the environment and Canberra’s liveability. It will also have real health benefits.
The sustainable transport plan sets clear targets to increase the percentage of more sustainable transport trips to work; that is, those trips to work taken by public transport, walking or cycling, from 13.1 per cent in 2001 to 30 per cent by 2026. The plan recommends a range of actions to increase the percentage of work trips taken by foot from 4.1 per cent to seven per cent; by cycling, from 2.3 per cent to seven per cent; and by public transport, from 6.7 per cent to 16 per cent.
One of the key priorities identified in the sustainable transport plan was the Belconnen to city transitway connecting major activities between Belconnen and City. The planning for this project is well advanced. A possible corridor was initially announced in January 2005, and since then the firms Brown Consulting and Purdon Associates have been appointed to review alternative corridors, identify a preferred route alignment and investigate the environmental, heritage, social, economic and operational impacts of the transitway.
On 9 March, I announced that two route options would be analysed in further detail as part of the preliminary assessment. Extensive community consultation has been undertaken throughout the study, including some 50 public or stakeholder meetings and three public displays. The preliminary assessment is now out for public consultation, and
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