Page 1187 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 2013
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Mr Hanson: Simon said it yesterday.
MR RATTENBURY: Well, 21 seconds. That is about the usual amount of time it takes for them to start interjecting on me, but that is probably a new record.
I would like to take some time discussing what the government is doing—I think this will allay some of the concerns that Mrs Jones has—but also point to some of the challenges, particularly around the private ownership of key areas.
The Territory and Municipal Services Directorate has, over the years, developed a strong working relationship with the community and shop owners, and this is a relationship founded on mutual respect. Mrs Jones’s claim that shopping centres have been neglected is largely baseless. The government has implemented several initiatives specifically targeted at improving local shopping centres, and these focus on three key areas: firstly, an ongoing upgrade and refurbishment program which focuses on asset condition and aims to improve the quality of the local shopping centres which it maintains; secondly, a minor works upgrade program funded under the urban improvement fund and the improve municipal services program; and, thirdly, an active commitment by TAMS to work with leaseholders, the community and businesses to support initiatives that promote their local areas and shopping centre precincts.
I note Mrs Jones has particularly raised some issues around Weston Creek. I believe you are a resident in that area these days, so you might be interested to note that in the Weston Creek area alone Waramanga local shopping centre is currently in the middle of being upgraded. The Chapman shops are in the middle of an extensive consultation process whereby the community were asked, first of all, to input what kind of changes they would like to see. Having gone to that session, I know some of them actually said, “We don’t want any changes; we want our shops just the way they are,” but people raised a series of ideas of how they could be improved. Based on that first round of consultation, TAMS has drafted a preliminary sketch plan to implement these proposals, and those proposals will come back to the community for their input. That consultation actually kicks off this weekend and will extend for all of April. Construction is scheduled for 2013-14 once that feedback has been received.
Rivett shops are also on the priority list for a future upgrade. This is all on top of the Cooleman Court master planning process, and over the coming years we will see all kinds of improvements there, especially given that we all know there will be increased pressure on the group centre as the number of residents in Molonglo valley increases.
Stepping away from Weston Creek and going back to the more general issue, the ACT government manages and maintains approximately 90 shopping centres across the ACT and in 1995 embarked on a rolling program of capital upgrades to improve local shopping centres. Over the 13 years of operation, funding has steadily increased in line with changing needs. From 2001 to 2010, $11.5 million was provided towards the upgrade of 12 shopping centres, and in the 2009-10 budget the government appropriated a further $8 million to upgrade the publicly owned spaces around
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