The Minister for Environment, Land and Planning, Bill Wood, announced yesterday that an eminent town planner would be engaged to lead a strategic study of issues surrounding residential development in Canberra.
The study would examine what sort of Canberra we want in the future, he said.
It would complement the inquiry by the Assembly’s Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee.
Its purpose would be to assess in a strategic way the trends that are developing in the provision of housing in Canberra and the impact this might have on the existing neighbourhood.
The consultant would be removed from the local planning bureaucracy.
There would two stages of discussions with interested parties followed by a draft report for public comment.
Mr Wood said, “”I encourage all those people within the community to participate in this study to address the issues that may be a cause for concern in our residential areas. I am conscious of the concern within the community about changes in the bush capital.”
Independent MLA Michael Moore said “”We still need a moratorium on in-fill. This inquiry is necessary but it should be specific into urban in-fill.”
The inquiry the Minister had announced was about inadequacies of Territory Plan: how much development where and when. That was the inquiry the Minister had taken on. It was important, however, there were still outstanding issues about urban infill and abuse of the leasehold system that are not contemplated as being addressed in this inquiry.
Jacqui Rees of the Save Our Cities Coalition said, “”It is a transparent attempt to put the whole problem off until after the election. It is an attempt to offload the problem and the blame.”
There should be an inquiry under the Inquiries Act with coercive powers to investigate what has happened and how we got to the present state of chaos.
“”We already have a town planner,” she said. “”His name is George Tomlins. The problem is not simply planning. It is a failure of the Legislative Assembly and the Minister to comprehend what their own directives have resulted in.”
The Liberal spokesman on planning Greg Cornwell, said he had no argument with a long term study, but it did not address immediate problems. The six- to nine-month time frame was too long. It was an attempt to postpone the issue until after the election but it would not work. It would be an election issue. There should be a two-month inquiry and a stay of approvals until that was completed.
The matter was urgent because there was “”a bricks and mortar epidemic” in Canberra.
Mr Wood’s announcement made no mention of commercial leases.
Point to forum piece on leasehold.