Page 1514 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
assessment does tend to result in the older suburbs in the inner south and north attracting more attention as their needs are greater.
I note Mr Doszpot’s call in his motion for the government to publish maintenance schedules. I am pleased to inform the Assembly that TAMS already publishes details of the planned program of work on its website. So the transparency is there. Currently, there are details available of the work that will be undertaken over the next two months at 561 sites in 27 suburbs, including 4,434 square metres of renewed path and a range of associated improvements. Additional information about footpaths and cycle path requests will continue to be placed on the website during 2014-15.
Of course, contractual arrangements, budget cycles and the continual inflow of needs that must be prioritised limit how far into the future this sort of detailed information can be reliably forecast. As new packages of works are prepared and contract periods are locked in, the information available on the website is updated. If there is a request for a different way to provide the information—and I suspect members may have views—noting some of the limitations I have just explained, I am happy to have a discussion with members and consider alternative approaches.
For the interest of the Assembly, I note that the government expects to spend $3.7 million on footpath maintenance alone in 2013-14. In the last full year, 2012-13, about 38,000 square metres of path was replaced. In addition, grinding machines treated about 20,000 metres of cracks and raised edges and 800 other repairs were made by patching.
Part of the joy of walking and cycling on our large network of paths is the leafy surrounds. So part of the challenge of maintaining the paths is the management of the path-side vegetation. A feature of some of our older suburbs is the presence of many well-established and much-loved hedges and boundary plantings. Where plant growth from leases encroaches onto public paths, the city rangers and Roads ACT work closely with leaseholders to find the right balance in keeping paths clear for use, as well as for maintenance, and preserving the character and sustainability of plantings as far as possible. A similar balance is required where tree growth encroaches or roots are a problem in breaking up paths. Roads ACT takes advice from urban treescape officers on each of these cases to find ways to carefully trim roots and branches and/or redesign the path to allow renewal without endangering the tree’s health.
Lighting, of course, also plays a key role in making paths an attractive, safe and practical option for every day and evening use. In addition to the illumination provided by street lighting, there are about 45,000 public street lights that serve paths. The first lights in Canberra were installed early in the 20th century. However, light standards have obviously developed and changed since then. This means that for many of our older suburbs they are not lit to the standards that would apply today. Street lights in the inner suburbs were generally installed to provide light primarily to paths.
When lights are upgraded in inner suburbs there is an improved result for both paths and roads as they are to a higher modern standard than those previously installed. However, there are still areas that would benefit from upgrade. There is a capital
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video