Page 2067 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 May 2013
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Today the site also plays a significant role in maintaining the health of the valley’s environment. Tuggeranong Creek flows through the site on its journey towards Lake Tuggeranong, Canberra’s most often closed lake. The grounds of the Tuggeranong Homestead have been identified as a site that would be suitable for the development of a wetland in an attempt to improve the quality of water entering Lake Tuggeranong.
The shopping precinct is well used and offers many services to the community. Currently the Calwell pub provides a social hub for the area. There are restaurants, cafes and professional services as well medical practices and a supermarket.
Surrounding the group centre there is a substantial amount of undeveloped land. It is in a prime position given its proximity to the existing facilities, surrounding suburbs and easy access to the main roadways of Johnson Drive and the Monaro Highway. Recently the government announced that they plan to relocate the Tuggeranong State Emergency Service depot to Calwell, identifying a site that is next to the existing ambulance station located on Johnson Drive. This announcement has been widely welcomed by the community, but has again revived concerns that the area lacks a strategic planning oversight. Along with the SES, there is currently a park-and-ride facility under construction, not to mention a number of proponents who wish to establish further facilities, such as a swimming pool, a childcare centre and aged-care facilities. And also there is additional demand for more commercial space.
The effective use of this land is the crux of the issue. According to the ACT planning strategy:
A master plan is a high level plan that sets out outcomes, actions and urban design principles to guide and manage development and/or redevelopment in a particular area or centre …
Master plans help to define what is important about a place and how its character and quality can be enhanced.
It also states:
A master plan will be prepared for an area that is undergoing change, is identified for urban intensification or where land use changes will be significant to the improvement of that place.
Calwell definitely meets this criterion. The extensive level of interest highlights the importance of ensuring that Calwell and the Tuggeranong Homestead are not only managed to provide good development outcomes but also recognised as being of cultural, historical and environmental significance and need to be preserved.
Yesterday we heard Minister Barr talk proudly about getting the Dickson master plan underway. Everyone in this place will have their own idea of what centres should be prioritised when it comes to master plans. It is the nature of our positions in that we are parochial in our approach, and it is also our obligation to the people that elect us in this place. However, when we see blatant disregard for certain regions of Canberra simply because of the proportion of Labor representation and its electoral significance,
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