Page 1193 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 2013
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But I will remind the Assembly too that sometimes these extra needs are caused by actions that are taken by the owners of the shopping centre. I do remember at Calwell shops there was a separate set of shops above the centre and those areas were closed by the owner of the shopping centre and then a lease variation change to the development application was applied for, which meant that the car parking for the shopping centre was limited. Car parks were taken away and the government then had to provide the funding for the extra car parks later, when demand increased.
The ACT government staff and design team work closely with shop owners to ensure needs are met to achieve the best outcomes for the community, both in usability and value for money. This is no easy task, and many individual issues need to be considered. In the past five years, a number of upgrades have been completed. Those include Melba shops, completed in 2008, $380,000; Garran shops, completed in August 2009, $1 million; Lyons shops, completed in 2011, $1.1 million; Deakin shops, completed in 2009, $1 million; Ainslie shops, completed in 2010, $1.6 million. As well as dealing with the usual improvements, this project dealt with major issues to do with stormwater flooding as well. The upgrade at Scullin shops was completed in June 2012 at a cost of $1.12 million.
In addition to these upgrades, a number of projects are currently underway, including construction works for Waramanga, Farrer and Red Hill shops. They are due for completion in October this year and December this year. Four forward design studies for major upgrades of the Chapman, Evatt, Florey and Hughes shopping centres and forward design studies for minor upgrades to nine shops at the Charnwood local shops, Cook, Griffith, Lyneham, Theodore, Banks, Torrens, Kambah at Mannheim Street, and Rivett shops are currently underway. The ACT government has delivered and will continue to deliver upgrades to our local shopping centres, ensuring our communities continue to access services and the important social interaction that comes from living in a community like Canberra.
TAMS also takes action to remove graffiti on public assets following reports received through Canberra Connect and encourages residents, businesses and community groups such as Neighbourhood Watch to monitor and promptly report graffiti offenders to the Crime Stoppers hotline. Graffiti is removed from public property within three days of notification or within 24 hours if it is offensive. Graffiti is an offence under section 120 of the territory’s Crimes Act 1900, and persons causing damage to public or private property may be issued with an on-the-spot fine of $1,000. Where graffiti occurs on a private asset, TAMS sends a written request to the property owner seeking their cooperation in removing the graffiti. If the property owner fails to do this and the graffiti is offensive, TAMS has a statutory right to remove the graffiti, and has on occasion taken this step.
In addition, Roads ACT also plays a role in management and maintenance responsibilities in local shopping areas. TAMS maintains the road pavements and footpaths and any walls within the local shopping centres that are on public land, sweeping the roads within the local shopping centres at least twice a year and undertaking additional sweeps if a specific request is received and found to be warranted. Roads ACT responds to requests from members of the public, including installing and/or modifying line marking and parking and road signs, and investigations are undertaken by Roads ACT staff.
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