Page 3608 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 22 November 2022
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Planning—Belconnen
MS CLAY: My question is to the Minister for Planning and Land Management. Minister, I attended a consultation on the Territory Plan and district strategies, through Belconnen Community Council, last week. It was an interesting, although brief, introduction to both of these documents. I asked that there be a central webpage for the consultations and that we put some information in Our CBR, and I am pleased to see that both of those things have happened. I note that we are already substantially through the first month of a 3½-month consultation on these major reviews. Can you tell me the planned stages of the consultation over the remaining three-month period?
MR GENTLEMAN: I thank Ms Clay for the question. It is an important one, as we go through this very important planning change for the future of Canberra. We have been working with the ACT community over several years to get to this point that we are at at the moment. The draft plan and district strategies are now out for consultation, as you have heard.
Consultation with the community has occurred at several different points throughout the process. A good example of this is the development of the district strategies. They were created because the community told us that they wanted something that captured the character of Canberra and set a strategic policy direction for the future.
If we look at what is happening at the moment, we will see some pop-up sessions run early next year, and there is the plan to look at the consultation process, which has four main elements: share, consider, listen and report. At the moment, we are in the “share” position of that consultation. This is where we are sharing all of the information that we have heard from the community so far and all of the work that our planning officials and stakeholders have done over those past three years. That will then move to the consider phase, the listen phase and then the report phase, towards the end of that.
MS CLAY: Minister, can you tell me the different purposes of the pop-ups versus the workshops, who they are catering for and what they are meant to deliver?
MR GENTLEMAN: Yes, they are varied. The reason is that people across the ACT want to engage at different levels and at different times. This is why we are providing community pop-ups, consultation directly with community councils and the YourSay website—those opportunities for feedback into the planning system. We know, as Canberrans have told us, that they want to engage in different ways, at different times.
MR DAVIS: Minister, will these consultations be recorded and publicly available for the community to hear online?
MR GENTLEMAN: Yes, wherever we can. There are of course some privacy considerations where people do not want their details published. As you will see on the YourSay website, people are able to look at comments that are made there.
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