Page 2834 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 6 October 2021
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As members will be aware, the Suburban Land Agency plays a critical role in providing continuity of land supply for development and release on behalf of the ACT government, which includes land for residential, commercial, industrial and community purposes. The agency is also pivotal in securing greater public and private sector investment and ensuring social inclusion and better neighbourhoods are reflected in development. In this sense the Suburban Land Agency works to balance growth between a dynamic city centre and flourishing suburbs, maintaining the Canberra we love and making it even better by preparing for the future.
The Suburban Land Agency envisages development projects which connect residents with their suburb and community. This involves land that supports a diverse mix of housing to support the changing needs and preferences of the Canberra community. The agency is also critical to ensuring a sustainable supply of land so that all individuals and families have an opportunity to live in a home which meets their needs. These needs are not limited to the block and section but extend to the accessibility, available services and sense of community and connectedness.
Recent greenfield developments have provided land for purchase, with an emphasis on open space, access to nature reserves, a network of recreational facilities, proximity to schools and central services and transport access. Aligned with the ACT government wellbeing framework, these single residential blocks provide an opportunity to join a growing neighbourhood and participate in a vibrant and connected neighbourhood community. This is critical to the sense of social connection.
As has been demonstrated in the work which informed the ACT government’s wellbeing framework, having a secure, suitable and affordable place to call home remains one of the essentials for a good life. At a fundamental level, housing offers physical shelter. But there is also a deeper relationship between an individual or family’s housing conditions and their wellbeing outcomes. Our wellbeing indicators work demonstrates that a sense of home can offer feelings of consistency in people’s material and social environments and, by extension, furthers our degree of control over these aspects of our lives.
For some Canberrans that will be a centrally located apartment, but for others it will be a larger suburban block with a backyard for entertaining or space for the kids to play outdoors. To support such choice in housing options, continual development and release of greenfield sites is a crucial part of delivering a supply of new and affordable housing choices for Canberrans. This renewed supply ensures that home ownership of suburban blocks, with access to open spaces and community infrastructure, is futureproofed.
Greenfield sites provide the opportunity for a clean canvas of possibilities for Canberrans looking to build a new home, to design bespoke landscaping and to establish a garden for leisure or to yield a seasonal home crop of fruit and vegetables. For some Canberrans this will be an opportunity to buy and build their first home. For others it might present the chance to downsize to a home of their own design or to invest in the market to realise their future opportunities. Critical to this sense of ownership and connection to place is the community, neighbourhood and concept of
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