Page 3155 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 17 October 2006
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Land (Planning and Environment) Act, pursuant to subsection 29 (1)—Approval of Variation No. 229 to the Territory Plan—Adaptable housing, dated 13 September 2006, together with background papers, a copy of the summaries and reports, and a copy of any direction or report required.
I ask for leave to make a statement in relation to the paper.
Leave granted.
MR CORBELL: Variation No 229 to the territory plan introduces mandatory requirements for providing adaptable housing in specific circumstances. Adaptable housing is housing that can be easily modified to be suitable for use by people with diminishing mobility.
The new adaptable housing requirements will mean that 10 per cent of multiunit development proposals for 10 or more dwellings in residential, commercial or entertainment accommodation and leisure land use policy areas will be designed—indeed, must be designed—to meet the relevant Australian standards for adaptable housing. These requirements will ensure that over time a greater range of suitable housing options will be available to meet the community’s changing access needs.
The current requirements for adaptable housing are contained in the ACT planning guidelines for access and mobility. Although the ACT Planning and Land Authority must consider the relevant provisions of a planning guideline when assessing a development proposal, guidelines do not have the same statutory effect as the territory plan.
The draft variation was released for public comment in July 2004 and dealt with both supportive housing purposes and provisions for adaptable housing. Six written submissions were received. The consultation report and the recommended final variation were forwarded to the Assembly’s planning and environment committee in May 2005.
In its report of July 2005, the planning and environment committee made three recommendations in relation to the draft variation. Following further consideration, the planning authority has reviewed some of the provisions for supportive housing, including issues raised by the planning and environment committee. These revisions, together with additional proposed revisions and a site-specific change to the land use policy for block 23 section 117 Kaleen, were included in a draft variation, No 263, which was released for public comment in July this year.
The government is now of the view that there is a need for further research into the proposed definitions for supportive housing and approved provider and amendments to other definitions. The proposed changes to definitions have been deleted from variation 229 until further studies are carried out. Therefore, the current territory plan definition for supportive housing is being retained.
The current guidelines for adaptable housing will now have statutory effect in the territory. As mentioned, this will require that 10 per cent of the dwellings of any multiunit housing development consisting of 10 or more dwellings must be designed to meet the relevant Australian standards for adaptable housing.
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