Page 41 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 22 February 1994
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Madam Speaker, I said at the time that the Planning Committee reported to the Assembly on the Territory Plan:
It will also be important to further develop precinct plans for particular areas and suburban plans. I know that the Yarralumla Residents Association is keen to develop a plan for the development of Yarralumla. I believe that we need to encourage communities to work together with planners to achieve cohesively planned communities and neighbourhoods.
The Planning Committee's new inquiry, I believe, facilitates this process. Since I spoke of the work that the Yarralumla Residents Association is doing, it has come to my attention that the Oaks Estate Progress Association is also looking at developing additional planning guidelines for Oaks Estate. This demonstrates a continuing interest by local communities in the development of their areas, an interest which needs encouragement by all the players in the planning process, including the ACT Planning Authority and the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee.
MR KAINE: Madam Speaker, I seek leave to make a short statement on this matter that the chairman of the committee has raised.
Leave granted.
MR KAINE: Madam Speaker, I understand that after today I will not be a member of the Planning Committee, but I would like to record my thoughts on what the committee is about to undertake. We have only just put in place a Territory Plan which is very comprehensive. It even goes into detailed design and siting requirements on a block-by-block basis, and before the ink is dry on that document we have before us guidelines for certain areas that are encompassed by the plan. In other words, there is already beginning to be over the plan an overlay of guidelines that are not part of the plan. Indeed, there are no procedures under the plan by which these guidelines can be properly considered, endorsed and dealt with, so the Planning Authority has found itself an avenue of referring them to the Planning Committee, which is taking unto itself a role that is not part of its terms of reference, in order to legitimise these documents.
I am concerned that the Territory Plan, six months after its introduction, is already proving to be deficient and that we are getting documents such as this being endorsed. They are going through some sort of an endorsement process, but they are not part of the plan. I am concerned that we may very quickly get to the situation where people do not know what the rules are. The plan is quite specific, but beyond the plan there are other documents that are only guidelines. Presumably, the Planning Authority can implement or not implement them as they see fit on a case-by-case basis.
I submit, Madam Speaker, that the Planning Committee should consider as a matter of policy how these documents can be incorporated into the plan once they are approved, so that they become part of the Territory Plan. They are not separate documents; they are not stand-alone documents; they are not documents
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