Page 2935 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 August 2015
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This extra funding will also allow for increased maintenance of trees around road signs, bus stops and in high visibility areas. This will help to alleviate line-of-sight issues as well as allow additional formative pruning works on young, developing trees. It will also allow for more weed removal on road verges, median strips and cycle paths.
The provision of municipal services in new suburbs has also been included in this budget. As the city grows there are new suburbs that we need to start servicing. This budget allocates another $8 million over four years, which will provide services such as waste collection, street lighting and the maintenance of public places and assets in these new suburbs.
In maintaining the upkeep of our city, waste management services play, of course, a vital role. An investment of $2.8 million over two years will include a feasibility study to investigate long-term options for the management and treatment of waste in the territory. This will include the development of a full business case for the infrastructure required to reduce waste and increase resource recovery consistent with the waste management strategy. Further to that, $20.9 million will be allocated to expand Mugga Lane Resource Management Centre by constructing further landfill capacity to meet the territory’s needs over the coming years.
One million dollars will allow NOWaste to continue to deliver waste management services, while $206,000 over four years will allow for public place recycling bins in the city area to be maintained and serviced. Eligible concession cardholders will continue to receive bulky waste collection services, thanks to $400,000 in the budget, whereby large items such as couches are collected and disposed of for free.
Of course, close to many people’s hearts is animal welfare. In this budget funding has been provided through TAMS to ensure Canberra’s animals are looked after. The government will provide additional support for animal welfare and domestic animal services, with $740,000 over four years, including inspectorate services and management of domestic animals in the ACT.
The RSPCA, which do a great service for the Canberra community, will receive $256,000 through the budget in addition to their underlying grant, to continue to provide their crucial services. $242,000 in funding will improve domestic animal related services through the development of a new database. Whilst this may not sound like the most exciting budget initiative, the database will improve the systems that Domestic Animal Services uses to deliver a range of services including reuniting lost dogs with their owners, record keeping, and the handling of animal nuisance situations, which I know is of concern to quite a few members of our community.
Investment in suburban group centres will see improvements across Canberra. Brierly Street and Trenerry Square in Weston group centre—Cooleman Court, as many people know it, or even Coolo—will receive $860,000 over two years to improve the landscape, pedestrian connections and safety in the centre. Gartside Street, near the Erindale shopping centre, will receive a makeover, with $860,000 over two years for a new design and improvements consisting of additional car parking, pedestrian paths
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