Page 53 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 22 February 1994
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Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee met at Lake Tuggeranong College and heard a range of community groups. We heard from Anderson Holdings, the current lessee of the site. We heard from an extremely articulate and forthright group of students called the Mini-Minders, who presented the committee with a range of views concerning the preservation of this site for the use of the people of Tuggeranong. They also commented upon the preservation of the built form on this site.
We also heard from a number of other groups, including the Minders of Tuggeranong Homestead. The MOTH group, as we have all come to know them, have been extremely vocal in putting to the community and to our committee their views as to what should happen with this site. Suffice it to say that in appearing before our committee, as they appeared before the previous committee of this Assembly that dealt with this matter, they sought to provide in-camera evidence, which was agreed to. Normally, that is quite unusual for a planning committee to agree to, but we believed that it was in the best interests of a full hearing on these matters that that request be acceded to. At our public hearings, representatives of MOTH appeared before us, both on the public record and in camera. In addition, we took submissions from a group called Permaculture ACT. An outline of their proposals for this site is included in the body of our report, as is a precis of all other submissions received by the committee, excluding that part of the MOTH submission which was in camera.
As I said in my introductory remarks, the recommendations by this committee are unanimous. I would like to read those into the public record to outline the basis for the thinking of the committee when making the recommendations. We recommend and endorse the draft variations subject to the following changes:
(1) the permitted land use for that portion of the site not marked as 'residential' in the draft Variation be 'horticulture/animal husbandry/community use' with the land use immediately adjacent to the existing built form (and including that built form) to be 'community/cultural; and that the 'residential' land use be expanded to include 'residential/horticultural';
The reason why the committee was prepared to accept this view as an appropriate definition for the land use can be ascertained from our report where we deal with the issues that have been raised by Permaculture ACT. They outlined a series of possible land uses for this site. We were attracted to this type of development for several reasons. Firstly, it retains the concept of a working farm on a site that has been used in this manner since European settlement began. Secondly, it does not separate out the heritage features of the site and remove them from what is happening around them. The proposed development could be expected to harmonise with those heritage features. Thirdly, the development would contribute to the greening of the Tuggeranong Valley and facilitate preservation of the birdlife. Fourthly, the development would not be exclusive but would invite public interest in and access to the site. Fifthly, the development would enable plots of land to be farmed by groups of schoolchildren and, for example, Canberra Organic Growers. Sixthly, the proposal is innovative and exciting and would itself contribute to wider interest in the Tuggeranong Valley and to Canberra generally.
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