Page 2492 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 23 August 1994
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Residential Development
MR BERRY: Madam Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning, Mr Wood. In recent days there have been some reports in the media about the issue of infill. I would like the Minister to confirm the elements of truth in those reports, what those measures are and what they are intended to achieve for the people of the ACT.
MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, there has been some debate, some comment, in the community about the pace of change in the ACT. Some members of this Assembly have switched onto that debate and I have been talking with them, as I have been to community members. I have been hearing the concerns expressed in the community about the pace of change. Therefore, I sought to find a means to accommodate those concerns, to see whether they were legitimate, to see how valid they were, and, if they were valid, what might be done about them.
Associated with that was a measure we were taking in any case. We said, when the plan came into effect, that in a year or so we would take up some of the issues on the plan and have a further look. In response to that, I announced on 19 August that there would be a strategic study of issues affecting the long-term development of Canberra. That study is to be undertaken by an eminent town planner or similar person and it will address the question of what sort of city we want for Canberra. That is a six- to nine-month study. It was one that was always proposed to run and it will, I think, engage further debate on important issues.
There were some immediate concerns and issues being raised and, in order to address those, I announced on 21 August that I will be appointing an independent expert to examine the impact of block consolidation, multi-unit development, dual occupancy, design and siting decisions, and so on. I did this after some debate, of course, with people I have met in the community, with members of the Government, with members of the Opposition and parties on the cross benches. I will get a report on issues that we might want to deal with more expeditiously, that may not await that longer-term study that has always been planned. They are two issues, I think, that confirm our commitment to the bush capital, to the amenity of our neighbourhoods, to our residential design, and to the way of life in our suburbs.
Residential Development
MR CORNWELL: I am delighted to hear the assurances from the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning about that inquiry because I would like to refer him to the Lanyon Park estate and surrounding blocks in South Banks. The Minister will be aware that a total of 58 dual occupancies have been approved or are under construction by his department in an area that covers no more than nine streets in the suburb of Banks. Why were nine dual occupancies approved by the department on blocks, when the schedule signed by the land development branch of his department states in black and white, "One dwelling unit only is permitted on each block."? Madam Speaker, I am quite happy to table this document.
Leave granted.
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