Page 3679 - Week 12 - Thursday, 25 November 2021
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some of the new materials entering the market, like low-carbon concrete and carbon sequestering concrete. Lastly, we need to ensure that we plan for extreme events across the ACT. We need a planning system that ensures our built form can withstand changing conditions and provide for comfort and safety.
The next item on our long list is about people-centred planning. We would like to see the planning system deliver development that works for people. It needs to be well designed, high quality and environmentally sustainable. Development should be driven by the needs and strategic priorities of Canberrans, not led by the priorities of developers. This is really important.
The new planning system should create settings to support more affordable housing for Canberrans. We understand that a lot of the factors affecting housing affordability are outside ACT government control, but a few levers are in our sphere. We particularly need affordable housing close to public and active transport connections, parks, schools and shops, and we need to prioritise transit-oriented development that is good for the climate, people and the environment.
The new planning system also needs to respectfully and genuinely listen to communities and provide communities with useful information about planning proposals and decisions. The information provided to the community needs to be accessible. Big projects should involve face-to-face consultation, and final proposals need to include genuine attempts to incorporate the concerns of the community.
The planning review needs to integrate feedback from previous committee work, including the previous Assembly’s inquiry into development application processes in the ACT. A number of recommendations set out how we can better improve consultation processes and give greater transparency for development application processes. We look forward to seeing these recommendations actioned in the new planning act.
Our new planning system needs to better protect trees and green spaces for current and future generations, for public use and for the protection of biodiversity and habitat. A draft variation was tabled recently that will assist with that, and I understand more reforms will come. Green spaces that are well cared for need to be integrated into both the development of future estates and protected in current suburbs. We need our green spaces to make our city liveable and to meet our living infrastructure targets.
Our future development should not harm threatened species. Decisions should be based on environmental impact statements that are independently assessed. We need to understand and track the cumulative effects of developments on threatened species and wildlife corridors, and to consider our environment as a whole, not block by block.
This land always was and always will be Aboriginal land. The new planning system should recognise that. It should respect the role of traditional custodians in preserving culture and stewarding the environment in the ACT, and it should require respectful engagement with Aboriginal traditional custodians on planning matters. Free, prior and informed consent is important, and we would like to see the new act reflect this.
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