Page 3435 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
buy a tract of land towards the end of their block of land, they were told they could not buy that because that is a 100-year floodplain and, of course, nothing could be built there. Obviously nothing by mere mortals or institutions, but apparently the government can build on that because, according to ACTPLA’s plans, the floodplains suddenly became an area where medium-density housing was going to be put.
You can understand the concern of people when they see these mistakes occurring without consultation. To give a little credit where credit is due, ACTPLA is now talking to the constituency, but it took an awful lot of concentrated effort to get the organisation to listen and to understand the problems that are currently there, let alone the problems that will be created if these plans are allowed to come to fruition.
I have mentioned the bus interchange and the wider Erindale car parking issues being of serious concern. It is even more serious when we consider that there does not seem to be any published documentation or a single authority for the fundamental basis for the master plan or the related studies—no terms of reference, no similar detail—on which the current plans have been based. There is no available information as to why certain options have been discounted and why the two—mainly the bus interchange option—have been identified.
The bus interchange in McBryde Crescent will turn an already busy street into a far busier and more dangerous place, with significant increases in bus traffic, not counting the school buses that service three schools in the vicinity. Erindale college is a very busy institution that is almost directly beside the Erindale shopping centre, so the congestion there is just incredible. Apart from Erindale college, we also have Trinity Christian school, and MacKillop college has a school site there as well.
The McBryde Crescent and Gartside Street intersection at the Ashley Drive end is extremely dangerous, especially for cars trying to exit Gartside Street to get to Ashley Drive. The plan that was shown to the constituents in Erindale obviously would have a very big impact on making that situation even more dangerous. Similarly, at peak time, the intersection of Ashley Drive and Sternberg Crescent is also very dangerous and demanding, so it all needs to be taken into account.
But the most incredible situation that has existed, again for quite a while, is the lack of concern for the Gartside Street traders. I will not overstate the point, because we already have spoken about it this morning, but there are about 40 to 50 businesses that have been directly affected for the last six-odd years, and their issues have not been listened to. When new plans were put forward that galvanised this community to action, obviously that has paid some dividends as ACTPLA are finally listening—or I hope they are, because I will be paying attention to the sorts of consultation and what the results of that consultation will bring to the community.
The Vikings Group, the club that is located in Erindale, I believe has also had some discussions with ACTPLA and have put forward some options they believe would assist with the congestion that currently exists. I am not quite sure where that discussion has led to at this point. But parking is an issue for all of those businesses—small ones, large ones. We have got businesses from restaurants to grocery outlets to McDonald’s to the Tuggeranong Vikings Group that are all affected. And I have not even mentioned the major shopping complex there—the Erindale shopping complex.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video