Page 1649 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 2 June 2021
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That is an incredible amount of growth. With that growth, we should have seen diverse opportunities realised. We should have had the opportunity to plan for a dynamic group centre servicing a very large local population; the design building layouts that foster a variety of developments and community facilities; and the construction of many more buildings to provide employment, wider retail diversity and entertainment venues, to support a large community that wants to shop and enjoy activities closer to home.
This government has been in power for the last 20 years. That means that Labor and the Greens have been the chief architects of the Gungahlin region. On that front, they have failed. They have failed to create a dynamic and well-balanced town centre. The roads are a mess; parking is a disaster. We lack community facilities such as indoor sporting facilities or even a functional pool. Our schools are at bursting point; we have no tertiary institutions or real vocational training in the region. We have reached the stage where members of our Labor-Greens coalition are actively calling on their own government to do something.
The sale of these blocks is yet another example of this failure. My community has said that enough is enough. Mr Braddock brought this motion on in the last sitting but was railroaded into parking it and letting the land sale go through. Worse still, he sought to represent himself as a champion of the community. It was a weak attempt to be seen to be acting on behalf of local residents, but he did not have the clout to influence his masters.
Mr Braddock also sponsored a petition that was pushed hard at the time by the Gungahlin Community Council. This half-hearted attempt also failed and left the community feeling let down.
The real issue here is the planning mindset blockage. Originally the area allocated for commercial space in the Gungahlin region was 200,000 square metres. It was dropped to 100,000 square metres, and now it is reduced to 65,000 square metres.
The precinct at the top of the hill opposite Yerrabi Pond was meant to be an office and commercial zone. Another failure. There have been election promises for a smart hub to exploit the early NBN rollout to attract more jobs to the Gungahlin town centre. This is another failure.
In 2010, planning reports recommended that the Gungahlin town centre’s distinctive urban village character be retained. This attitude continues despite the growth of the region and the strong message from the community that they want to have a real town centre. An urban village does not suit a region rapidly growing to 100,000 residents.
I realise that there has been high demand for growth in residential development within the town centre compared to commercial development. This reflects planning failure and an incessant profit grab by the government to garner quick sales. This most likely is because running a business in the ACT is tough with this government in power. The government does little to proactively try and attract potential business.
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