Page 4033 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 September 2017
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… we are very concerned that planning for this significant public space has proceeded to a construction phase with no overall vision or plan for the lane way precinct from the Hyperdome to the lake foreshore. Furthermore, we were advised that TCCS is only addressing the Government commitment to Anketell Street and while this is important they are not looking at or planning for the overall picture which we regard as important when looking at the overall revitalisation of the Tuggeranong Town centre and consider the main thrust of the Government election commitment.
The Council is concerned that by TCCS only looking at Anketell Street and excluding any revitalising of the town square, Stage 1 of the project is not a cohesive plan that responds to other areas within the precinct, (the central square and linkage to Cowlishaw St and the northern and southern car parks). As a consequence the opportunity to revitalise the town centre may become more difficult to achieve and instead fail at this first stage. This is very much at odds with the community expectations resulting from the consultation process and understanding of the scope of the project, albeit this work is described as Stage 1 of a broader (but as yet unplanned) project. To proceed with stage 1 of this project is rather like putting a roof on a house before the walls are built and there is no floor plan for how many rooms. The risk to the overall project success is simply too great to proceed without stage 1 being revised to consider critical basic needs. A number of submissions raised concerns about the laneway and town square …
Et cetera. Another comment that I received was from Tuggeranong Arts Centre. They felt that what was happening in stage 1 of the revitalisation along Anketell Street did not reflect community consultation. The arts centre had had plans to use it for a pop-up arts space, and the new furniture and trees that were installed made their plans and hopes impossible. So on the one hand we have a government that is saying they want community consultation, but then they are not taking that consultation and that input into account.
Another issue in my electorate is Gartside Street. Earlier this year I wrote to the minister, seeking clarifications of the plans for improvements to Gartside Street. In May, some time later, the minister wrote to me and advised me that work would commence at Gartside Street in May. On 1 June I visited Gartside Street to see how development was progressing, and it was not. I decided to post a video of the area and wrote to the minister again. The comments I received included “The place is a disaster,” “I try to avoid the area due to lack of parking,” “I can only hope they do something soon, as it’s an area waiting for an accident to happen,” “It’s an absolute nightmare,” and “Parking is awful, including lighting at night,” et cetera.
Work is now underway, I am pleased to see. I hope, because of the late start, that it meets the deadline, that the project will be completed in November, as the minister has advised me, because at the moment with the construction work going on it is even more of a nightmare than it was before. But people are hopeful of a good end result, and I will certainly be monitoring the situation.
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