Page 701 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 11 February 2009
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planning and design solutions are found to help with noise mitigation and physical security issues; organisations are able to promote their events in an accessible and cost-effective way; and good public transport options for people attending events, especially late at night.
I have many friends who have moved closer to Dickson, precisely because it is bustling in the evenings. There are plenty of restaurants and a few pubs. Trinity, for example, has live DJs on many nights of the week. That gives life to the area, but the noise can also be heard by nearby houses. This is a tricky issue for our planning system. Some residents are very positive about occasional loud music. However, there are other people, especially those who have been living in the area for a long time, who may be in a different boat. Perhaps the government could look at ways to help retrofit noise abatement measures to existing houses. Such measures might include double glazing for windows, wall insulation especially for timber or fibro houses, rubber flooring, vegetation to buffer blocks and perhaps, in extreme cases, even a free earplug scheme. Provision of this could be part of the planning conditions if a change of use which would produce significant noise was introduced.
The issue of the Lighthouse Bar in Belconnen is an interesting one, because it is a busy pub and it is a very good spot for a venue as it is close to Lake Ginninderra. At the same time, it is in an area which has growing demand for residential accommodation. It is close to the town centre and close to public transport and evening entertainment. But the threat that the increase in the number of residents in close proximity poses to the Lighthouse Bar is one which may lead to closing yet another venue in our small city. We have seen this happen unfortunately too often in Canberra with the Gypsy Bar and, more recently, Toast. Toast was an example of something which was in a prime location. It had a good courtyard, and there were no permanent residents nearby. However, it was near the Waldorf, which made many complaints about the venue.
What the Greens would like to see is an analysis of ways to mitigate these impacts. We also want to ensure that zoning through the territory plan makes it clear to people moving into commercial zones that they should understand that there may be existing noise-producing activities in the area. When moving to a new area, people need to realise that they need to explore the whole area with regard to traffic conditions and noise at night and not just when they inspect the house in the middle of the day.
There are many places around Australia which have been forced to consider the issues around supporting live music and loud events generally. Canberra has managed to avoid confronting this issue for a number of years. However, now all the commercial zones in our territory plan allow for residential development, it is time to do more thinking and planning.
One place which has found a solution is Fortitude Valley in Brisbane. They now have a zoned precinct for entertainment with their valley music harmony plan. The precinct was created to ensure the long-term future of the music-based entertainment industry in the valley without exposing the residents or businesses to unreasonable levels of amplified music noise. A special entertainment precinct designates areas within the valley where new noise, music and development laws apply. It amends the Brisbane
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