Page 1337 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 5 May 2015

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The planning framework set by the village of Hall master plan ensures that pressure for change does not diminish Hall’s social and environmental qualities. Protection of the village character is important not only to Hall residents but to the entire ACT and region community. The master plan will ensure that all Canberrans continue to have the opportunity to enjoy Hall’s history and the rural ambience that dates back almost 120 years.In December of last year, I was delighted to announce the release of the Oaks Estate master plan. Subsequent to that, I announced the release of the draft variation to the territory plan, DV328, for community comment, in January of this year. Three rounds of community engagement were undertaken throughout the master planning process to gather community and stakeholder concerns and priorities for the village. This important interaction helped identify what is important about Oaks Estate and how its character and quality should be conserved and enhanced. The Oaks Estate master plan acknowledges Oaks Estate as a unique semi-rural village. It represents a vision, planning principles and planning strategies that will help preserve and improve the existing village character over time. It sets a strategic direction for the future growth of the village by aiming to identify and balance the land use, economic and social and environmental opportunities and challenges to the benefit of Oaks Estate.

The Oaks Estate master plan’s strategies and policies have been incorporated into a draft precinct code for Oaks Estate. The code, included as part of draft variation 328 to the territory plan, has been prepared and was released for public notification for six weeks from 30 January to 16 March this year. We invited the community to have their say and to provide comments.

DV328 aims to protect the existing character of Oaks Estate by making amendments to the precinct map and code to limit the location of light industrial uses, limit building site coverage, introduce setbacks to protect the heritage character of Robertson House, and nominate active frontages and front boundary setbacks in the commercial area to provide interesting ground floor frontages to encourage pedestrian activity and passive surveillance of the street regardless of whether the development is residential or commercial.

Now that the consultation period has closed, the EPD will review 328. Recently, I met with the Oaks Estate Progress Association; together with the Chief Minister and my colleagues, I look forward to continuing to engage the community on issues of most importance to them.

On Tharwa village, the Environment and Planning Directorate is preparing the rural village plan for Tharwa, as I indicated in my answer in question time today. The rural village plan will aim to recognise the significance of the village of Tharwa to the overall planning of Tuggeranong in terms of the tourist and recreational values which are added to the area. The village plan is the most appropriate master planning mechanism for use in the Tharwa context, given the nature and scale of existing development in the village. Rural village plans are a common strategic mechanism used by governments to support smaller townships that face location, infrastructure and investment challenges similar to those Tharwa faces.


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