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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 217 ..
MRS CROSS (continuing):
By late April 2002, Artcraft Research, which is an independent consultancy firm, conducted a consultation session with the Gungahlin Community Council, otherwise known as the GCC. The GCC strongly expressed concerns about the volume of traffic on Hibberson Street, but this point was not reflected in the final report.
In May 2002, the equality party formed an internal working group whose task it was to come up with a sensible and workable solution that would be acceptable to the community, addressing the traffic problems in the Gungahlin Town Centre. On 24 May 2002, a document titled "The Town Square Proposal for Gungahlin Town Centre"was sent to the Minister for Planning, as well as the CEO of the GDA, the executive director of PALM and the Gungahlin Community Council.
On 26 June 2002, a response was received from the Gungahlin Development Authority, stating that they would consider the town square proposal. The minutes of the meeting of the GDA held on 27 June noted the receipt of the Gungahlin Equality Party proposal. I quote from page 3:
Members agree to:
Participate in the Gungahlin Community Council Workshop on the issue.
Ensure that there is substantial PALM input in the workshop, and any response to the GEP.
Arrange a GDA forum on "Town Centre Planning".
Bring forward a paper to next meeting on communication issues.
The GEP has never received any response in writing from the GDA in regard to the proposal, other than the letter of 26 June 2002, written the day before the meeting.
In late June 2002, the GEP undertook an informal doorstop survey at the Gungahlin marketplace to gain public opinion for a pedestrian precinct town square. The survey received support from 90 per cent of those questioned. On 10 July last year, the GCC endorsed its own community survey, which included the pedestrian precinct town square option for Gungahlin as one of many questions. In August 2002, the GCC survey was published and distributed in their newsletter, called "Gunsmoke", to 9,100 households.
The next month, September, the GDA expressed their vision for the town centre at a meeting with the community council. Mr Speaker, I am told that the Gungahlin Equality Party was ridiculed. The GDA admitted that the bulk of consultation had occurred between 1993 and 1995 and that the GDA knew what was best for Gungahlin because they had engaged professionals. The GDA insists that it was a workshop, but my information is that it was merely a presentation with no input.
In September 2002, the GDA/Artcraft survey results were made available to the public. It was noted by many community members that pertinent comments that they had written on survey forms had not been reflected or recorded in the report, especially in support of a pedestrian precinct town square concept. In November, the GCC survey results were published. Of the responses received, 91 per cent supported the concept of a pedestrian precinct. That was followed by intense media coverage.
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