secretary Community, Government, Information, Media Reports, News, News and Events, Notices, Planning

Community Announcement: Planning Act Amendments and Community Engagement

With the passage of the new Planning Act last week, the Belconnen Community Council was glad to see the inclusion of key amendments that we lobbied for. These amendments addressed our concerns about community consultation and pre-DA consultation. These changes prioritized the voices of our community in the planning process, and we are grateful for this significant step forward compared to the draft bill.

However, while we appreciate the amendments, we acknowledge that concerns remain regarding the outcomes-based system and how it will impact Belconnen residents. In this vein, we support the built-in review mechanism to evaluate the system’s effectiveness and the potential need for further reforms. The government should be proactive and consider a continuous evaluation and review process of the planning system. We believe in ensuring active community participation in shaping the planning outcomes that impact our neighborhoods.

Additionally, we are disappointed that governance arrangements were not prioritized from the beginning. However, we welcome the amendment requiring an independent review of the governance arrangements within 12 months of the Planning Act’s passage. This review should examine the effectiveness of the independent planning body and explore the potential of local design panels, both of which we advocated for in our submission on the draft Bill. These measures will contribute to a more inclusive and community-centric planning framework.

We express our gratitude to the ACT Government, the Opposition and all stakeholders involved for their efforts in addressing our concerns and taking meaningful steps towards creating a more consultative and inclusive planning framework.

However our work is not yet done, we will keep advocating for the best planning outcomes for our community and if you are interested in helping out, we would love to hear from you.

The BCC remains committed to advocating for genuine and transparent community engagement in planning, and for a fit-for-purpose territory plan, district strategy, and design guides that deliver for the Belconnen community while delivering the housing our city needs.

Together, let’s shape the future of our community! 🌍✨

Josh Dawes Community, Media Reports, News, Planning, Uncategorized

Kippax Master Plan – Media statement from the Belconnen Community Council

BCC MEDIA STATEMENT – KIPPAX GROUP CENTRE MASTERPLAN – 25 March 2019

Today the ACT Government has released the long awaited Kippax Group Centre Master Plan Engagement report. We wrote to ACT Planning Minister Mick Gentleman on 12 March seeking access to the outcomes of this lengthy consultation process and its impact on the final Master Plan; the result has been somewhat of a mixed bag for the West Belconnen community.

The Belconnen Community Council held a number of meetings throughout the consultation process to garner feedback and identify concerns our residents, workers, business owners and students had about the draft Master Plan. When consultation concluded in early 2017 we were satisfied that all the feedback was satisfactorily captured for every stakeholder and reflected their concerns while respecting the principle that expansion was absolutely necessary for the continued growth of the area. With 30,000 residents flowing into West Macgregor and Ginninderry over the next few decades it is vital we have infrastructure and services to meet the demand this growth will bring.

What was particularly disappointing was the re-opening of that process months after consultation had officially closed to facilitate the Kippax Fair owners’ new plans for redevelopment of the centre; this appeared to be counter to the long-standing principles of consultation and process integrity the ACT Government have been renowned for. When a Community Reference Group was formed to deal with the challenges this new proposal posed, the Belconnen Community Council participated in good faith with a view that the significant concerns around loss of green space, reductions in available sporting and recreational facility and the creation of heat island effects, would be heard and ameliorations put in place to deal with those significant matters.

A full year after the final consultation period closed, we now have a report that has not sufficiently addressed those concerns.

We acknowledge the many great results that are reflected in the report:

  • Upgrading parking facilities in and around the centre
  • Upgrading of local ovals to account for the loss of facility at Kippax
  • New access arrangements for public/private road transport
  • Better shopping facilities and greater choice for the community

However, relying on a single online poll and the use of a minority of suggestions relating to these concerns does little to negate the significant feedback collected by the Council over the last four years. The simple principle of losing 30% of your nett green space then upgrading 30 percent of what is left does not return your overall state back to 100%; this is a pure false economy and one which our community has been urging the ACT Government to recognize.

We call on the ACT Government to identify new green space in the West Belconnen and Ginninderry developments to rebalance the 16000 square metres lost at Kippax. This process should operate in tandem with any redevelopment activity to ensure that as people come into our district and the West Belconnen area, we have capacity and facility to accommodate their needs.

The Belconnen Community Council acknowledges the hard work of the ACT Government public servants who have participated in this process and provided great support to our community over the last four years. We will continue to work with them in a respectful and courteous environment to get the best possible result on this and the many other challenges facing the Belconnen District and our community.

Glen Hyde

Chair, Belconnen Community Council

Josh Dawes Community, Government, Media Reports, News

Belconnen retains its 4000 strong workforce at Immigration

belco immigration

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection today announced that the 4000 Immigration employees working in the Town Centre will remain in Belconnen. Office accommodation arrangements have now been finalised, and although its Civic workforce will be relocating to the Airport, its Belconnen employees will remain in the Town Centre.

Some will relocate to the underutilised ABS Building on Benjamin Way, across the road from their main Belconnen building.

This is a tremendous result that the BCC, under former Chair Tara Cheyne, worked hard to achieve, with strong bipartisan political efforts at local and federal levels.

Todays announcement provides certainty to the workers and their families that faced enormous dislocation, and to the many small businesses that relied on the 4000 workers. The department employs around one third of the full time workforce located in the Town Centre and remains Belconnens largest employer.

This decision was almost certain following last years decision by the Finance Department to take local factors into consideration when contemplating relocation of departments.

The decision was advised to all staff via an email on 5 May 2016:

Belconnen retains its Immigration workforce
Belconnen retains its Immigration workforce

The media covered the decision here and here.

Senator Zed Seselja commented on the decision by saying:

“Along with the Belconnen community I fought to ensure the [department] remained in its current location with the same staffing footprint, and I’m pleased that we won that fight,”

“Our government is the first ever to take into consideration local impacts on Canberra before making a decision regarding departmental accommodation and today’s announcement shows just how important this was.

“We now have certainty for businesses and staff located at the Belconnen town centre.

“We all know that the presence of government departments in our town centres is critical to maintaining the viability of many local small businesses. This is how Canberra was designed and we need to protect that.

“A move of the DIBP from Belconnen town centre would not have been in the best interest of the Belconnen community. It was vital to ensure this did not happen.