Page 813 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 18 March 2015
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I believe that ACTPLA will now proceed to incorporate this master plan into the territory plan. Mr Gentleman touched on that. A process will be commencing soon to start this work to develop a territory plan variation. The master plan does propose some blocks for land release, which could be a great opportunity to introduce some new residents and potentially new services and activities into the area.
While the role of the master plan is chiefly to address the built environment of an area and not really to work through the social issues, I do think that in the case of Oaks Estate, given the factors of the area that Mr Doszpot touched on, significant changes to what is and is not allowable have clear flow-on effects for all residents. I think that there is some real opportunity.
There are a number of heritage nominations that are still outstanding. I believe that some residents are concerned that these should have been resolved before the master plan was finalised. However, my understanding is that the master plan is neutral on this issue and that heritage determinations can be made irrespective of the master plan. I believe that the government has a draft heritage plan for Oaks Estate, but I do not think that was ever finalised. That again goes back to that issue that I was touching on earlier about making sure that these processes do get finalised.
In any case, it would be preferable if all new developments were in step with the unique character of the area. I trust that this will be addressed through the development application process for each proposal as it comes through, although I note that this will largely not be able to occur until after the territory plan variation is finalised.
I am pleased that the Oaks Estate community garden continues to be so successful. I have heard that there is a proposal for a market garden in the estate, which makes a lot of sense. It is a perfect site adjacent to the river, with therefore rich soils and good access to water.
Madam Speaker, I personally believe that there is a bright future for Oaks Estate. There is a keen and committed community that is working hard to bring together the community activities such as the community garden and use of the community hall, as well as bringing the artists in the community together to perhaps create an artists’ village.
There has been a proposal for an artist-in-residence program to be run in Oaks Estate. I think this would be a very feasible proposal, given the site and potential future activities. I think what I have seen around Canberra is that the parts of Canberra that are really vibrant are where residents have come together and started to take the initiative. We see this playing out in all different parts of our city. That is part of my optimism for Oaks Estate because I know that there is a very dedicated group of people who are keen to ensure that the area has a good future. I think that when you have that sort of energy it plays out very strongly for the community involved in many ways.
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