BCC CALLS ON ACT GOVERNMENT TO DELIVER ON ITS PROMISES IN 2026–27 BUDGET

BELCONNEN COMMUNITY COUNCIL CALLS ON ACT GOVERNMENT TO DELIVER ON ITS PROMISES IN 2026–27 BUDGET

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that the ACT Government’s feasibility study into the Belconnen to City Transitway, a project the entire Legislative Assembly voted unanimously to deliver by October 2028, recommends further study. Twenty-seven months after that unanimous vote, the project has not progressed beyond the study phase.

This finding sits at the centre of the Belconnen Community Council’s 2026–27 ACT Budget submission, lodged today, which documents a consistent pattern across eight commitments made to Belconnen residents: commitments made, timelines slipped, problems compounding.

The BCC is calling for the 2026–27 Budget to break that pattern.

The submission sets out what the 2026–27 Budget can deliver for Belconnen across eight areas:

• Approve the Northside Hospital business case and resource a 2027 construction start, before further slippage of the committed completion date.
• Confirm a site and fund the design phase for the West Belconnen Health Centre, more than five years after the original commitment.
• Restore bus services to West Belconnen that were cut in February 2026 and deliver the additional rapid route promised.
• Fully fund delivery of the Belcon
  nen to City Transitway on the committed 2028 timeline.
• Fund preliminary planning for the Belconnen–City light rail corridor before development and planning decisions create costly missed opportunities.
• Establish a Belconnen Renewal Authority to coordinate the major town centre renewal the Government has committed to deliver.
• Act on the findings of the primary school feasibility study and secure a site before development narrows the options further.
• Increase tree planting funding to meet the Government’s own Urban Forest Strategy target of 18,000 trees per year.

“Belconnen is home to a quarter of Canberra’s population and is growing by more than any other district,” said BCC Chair Lachlan Butler. “We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking the Government to keep the promises it has already made, and we are making the case that acting now is cheaper than the alternative.”

Editor’s note (updated 8 April 2026): Concept plans for Margaret Timpson Park were released on 27 March 2026, after this submission was finalised but before publication. The submission reflects the information available at the time of finalisation.

The full BCC budget submission can be found here.