Page 4616 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 27 November 2019
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I rise today to help protect Coombs peninsula from additional multi-dwelling residential development. Coombs peninsula is one of the few open spaces left in the Molonglo Valley. It is still part a suburb that has been developed. It is a natural space. It is full of trees. On the balance of things, considering what the residents of Coombs have had to deal with lately, I think they should be able to continue to enjoy that space. It is an important public asset shared by all Coombs residents and the wider community.
The land in question is about seven to eight hectares of former farming land and pine plantation at the end of Fred Daly Avenue in Coombs, which forms part of Coombs peninsula. The strategic location of the land is important. The site is a small hill surrounded by a bend in the Molonglo River. It provides a great vantage point for views along the river valley. The hill is surrounded on three sides by Molonglo River reserve. The site is immediately adjacent to land that is already protected and set aside for the pink-tailed worm-lizard, which is a rare legless lizard. There is also a friendly platypus seen from time to time in that part of the river.
Opposite the Coombs peninsula is a section of land that will be developed. So even though at the moment the peninsula looks across to a natural space, that will not be the case in the long term. Coombs peninsula acts as a very important vantage point across the Molonglo River Reserve. It provides a buffer zone between the highly urban environment of Coombs and the protected environment of the reserve. The area is currently open space and available to all. The site is used by local residents to access the Molonglo River, to reach our nearby walking paths and to exercise dogs. Children fly kites, play in the bush and engage in general recreational enjoyment. Hot air balloons have used it as a landing site.
Despite the importance of this place to the community and despite the fact that many residents who bought into the area did so on the understanding that it would not be developed, the government plans to release the land for 30 dwellings. This would take away some of the last remaining natural space that the people of Coombs have to enjoy. As has been discussed at much length in this place, there are very few trees that have matured in the area and the few open green spaces are in a wind tunnel. We have, to this point, developed almost every inch of space in Coombs.
While people in some of the other suburbs that are backing on to bigger nature reserves have the capacity to walk up into the hills, the people of Coombs do not have that. They have to go across a big four-lane main road. It really is a big change from where you are, whereas the Coombs peninsula is a space within the Coombs suburb which people use to be able to unwind within their own suburb.
I am not saying that the Coombs peninsula can never be developed. We are actually in favour, on the whole, of development but it would have to be done right. I think there are environmental or recreational assets that could be developed there. But I believe that for the sake of that suburb and how it has developed to this point, it would not be right. Further work needs to be done on how best to keep the site as urban open space for all residents of the Molonglo Valley to enjoy while protecting nearby wildlife in the Molonglo River Reserve.
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