Documents presented by the ACT Government to the planning committee showed an appalling attitude to major Canberra redevelopments, according to Independent Helen Szuty.
She said yesterday that government documents on Duffy-Holder and development near Tuggeranong Homestead indicated that the Government assumed the planning approval would go through.
The documents said under the heading Public Consultation: “”A preliminary assessment is being prepared for public consultation. This will lead to approval of a draft Variation to the Territory Plan”.
Ms Szuty said community groups had a right to be angry when seeing these documents which were presented to the planning, development and infrastructure committee as part of the capital works program.
The committee’s report on the program was tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday night.
It recommended that no money should be spent on these two development or North Watson until all planning-variation requirements have been passed. It demanded far more detail about capital works, including design and agency needs, from the Government and threatened to block approval of works unless it is provided.
Committee member Tony de Domenico (Lib) said in the tabling debate that ACT bureaucrats had to realise that the ACT had an elected Assembly.
This year $94 million of capital works are on the program for approval. Ms Szuty said the committee was expected to approve that with only one page of detail on each project.
The committee sought a status report on all works carried over from previous years. It wanted a three, four and 10-year indicative works design program each year.
It recommended that a Tuggeranong youth-resource centre and cycle paths from Gungahlin be expedited.
Independent Micahel Moore said yesterday that the community was not getting a proper return on its assets when land uses were changed.
He was introducing a Bill to levy 100 betterment on land-use changes.
Betterment is the charge levied against a leaseholder in return for a change of purpose in the lease in recognition of its changed value from the old use to the new. Under present law a remission of up to 50 per cent is available depending on the age of the old lease.
Mr Moore said four major independent and parliamentary inquiries had recommended a return stricter administration of leasehold with levies of 100 per cent of the increase in the market value of a lease that is created by a change in permissible land use.
However, successive Commonwealth and ACT Governments had ignored the recommendations and had gone in the other direction, to the detriment of the community.