Page 2591 - Week 07 - Thursday, 1 August 2019
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and Development Act. Hopefully, this will be one of the whole raft of issues that will be considered as part of the Territory Plan review.
In conclusion, thank you very much, Minister Gentleman. I am glad to see something which will, hopefully, make a positive difference to the quality of development in the ACT.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Manager of Government Business, Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries) (11.26), in reply: I am pleased to close debate on the Planning and Development (Design Review Panel) Amendment Bill 2019. The bill seeks to establish a single independent design review panel process for significant development proposals at the pre-development application stage. I want to reiterate that in light of comments that we have heard earlier today in regard to DA decision time lines.
Establishing this process is the result of consistent feedback from our community for the need to achieve a high standard of design for the buildings and public spaces across our city. It is also an action in my 2015 statement of planning intent. The design review panel process has been operating in an interim function since late 2017 and has reviewed more than 20 significant projects. Over this time I am pleased to report that many successes have been achieved on projects in the city centre, in our town centres and in our other key locations across the city.
For example, the first project to be presented to the interim panel was the Manuka Oval media centre. Several of the interim panel’s recommendations were employed by the project architects to enhance the design and functionality of this building. Through this collaborative design approach, the Manuka Oval media centre was recently acknowledged for its high standard of design, receiving a commendation award in the 2019 ACT Architecture Awards.
While the interim panel has been successful, there is currently no statutory or regulatory requirement for development proposals to be presented to the panel or that the panel’s advice be formally considered through the development application process. This bill seeks to address this. The bill offers a clear and structured process to support industry and decision-makers to deliver high quality, well-designed developments and public spaces.
I also draw your attention to the government amendments to this bill. The government amendments change the key threshold for prescribed developments required to consult with the design review panel. A prescribed development will now be defined as a building that is five storeys and above. Such buildings are increasingly found across various parts of our city.
The original text of the bill limited this to certain parts of Canberra, but the government believes that this could be more appropriately applied across our entire city. There may come a time in the future when five storeys is considered a part of the
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