Page 543 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 18 February 2015

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Additionally, and consistent with the Roads ACT asset management operational plan for community paths in the ACT, inspections are targeted according to assessed risk. So areas in Belconnen receive inspection of all the suburban footpaths every four years, and in group centres and local centres it is every three years. In areas around community facilities, including shopping areas and schools, as an example, it is every two years. So you can see the prioritisation there based on higher usage levels. The next scheduled inspection in Belconnen is due for completion in August 2015.

Works have recently been completed or are programmed in Aranda, Belconnen, Bruce, Charnwood, Evatt, Flynn, Giralang, Hawker, Holt, Kaleen, Macgregor, McKellar, Melba, Spence and Weetangera. Works are also due to be programmed in Aranda, Belconnen, Bruce, Cook, Florey, Fraser, Giralang, Hawker, Higgins, Page and Weetangera. This is starting to sound like an Alistair Coe adjournment speech.

At Mount Goodwin in Macgregor, where I have recently visited with a constituent, the path network in the parkland is due to be completely renewed before the end of the 2014-15 financial year due to the particular problems in that area. A re-levelling of pavers has recently been completed in Belconnen along the waterfront. I know that there have been some particular issues there with vehicles going on the pavers and damaging the area. Footpath works have also recently been completed in Aranda, Belconnen, Bruce, Charnwood, Evatt, Florey, Fraser, Giralang, Holt, Latham, Macgregor, McKellar, Page, Scullin and Spence. Additional footpath grinding work will be programmed as raised by public inquiries.

I noted the comments that were made about whether the public should have to make the effort to report these things. I have just talked about the regular maintenance program that TAMS has in a range of areas, but there is no harm in taking advantage of the fact that the community are also able to spot things. I would rather work with the community to have them inform the government if there is a problem than simply employ staff who drive around looking for problems. I would like to focus TAMS resources—and they are constrained in places—on repairing things, and we can work in partnership with the community to identify problem areas.

In terms of shopping centres, Dr Bourke has made some comments in that space already. There are currently a number of works underway in the Belconnen region. Upgrades that have been undertaken in recent years include the Melba, Holt and Scullin shopping centres. Upgrades are currently being constructed in the Belconnen region at the Charnwood—Tillyard Drive—and Cook shopping centres. Forward designs have also been completed for Florey and Evatt, and they will be upgraded as the funding becomes available.

Mrs Dunne spoke of the new approach of seeking a co-investment model with shopping centre upgrades, and I welcome what I took to be her positive remarks on that approach. It has been a source of frustration for me that TAMS goes around and often does really great work on public unleased land—upgrading footpaths and putting in new lighting and shrubbery: all of those kinds of things, depending on what a centre needs—and the residents come along and go, “Well, that’s terrific, but the shopping centre still looks a bit drab.” I can understand why people say that, because


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