February Update

• West Belconnen Urban Support Precinct.

  • Have your say on future non-residential infrastructure.

• 2026 Bus timetable changes

  • New services for West Belco required within days of the new timetable. Petition to keep the R2 and R3 bus routes for West Belconnen closes end of month.

• Big Splash.

  • Public meeting held last night, deadline for Big Splash to respond to latest regulatory action extended by five days, and petition closes next Tuesday.

• Hawker Tennis Centre

  • BCC seeking clarity on the future regulatory action to be taken. Petition closes next month.

• Kaleen Sports Centre

  • Should basement parking count towards a developer’s minimum recreation facility requirements?

• Environment Consultations

  • Key long-term planning documents currently open for input.

• Dunlop Shops

  • Woolworths closure at Dunlop Shops announced. Petition launched to show community support for local shops.

• MLA Updates

West Belconnen Urban Support Precinct

Have your say on future non-residential infrastructure.

• The ACT Government is drafting a master plan for an urban support precinct in West Belconnen.
  • An Urban Support Precinct accommodates essential infrastructure, services, and facilities that support the functioning of the surrounding residential community.

• Rather than waiting for formal consultation, the BCC has launched an early survey asking a simple question:

• What non-residential infrastructure and amentity does West Belconnen need?

• More information and the survey can be found here.

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2026 Bus Timetable Changes

New West Belco services announced

• Transport Canberra announced it will boost the frequency of the 12 and 13 following strong community feedback and network data.

• This will increase the frequency of the 12 to match the R2, and the 13 to have 20 minute frequency.

• This is the frequency Transport Canberra told the BCC to expect when we met with them in December, but not what we saw when the timetable was released.

• This only reinforces what the BCC and local residents have been saying for months: stripping the frequency of bus services out of the outer suburbs was the wrong call.

• We’ll keep advocating for full reinstatement and the improved bus services Belconnen was promised before the election.

• A petition to keep the R2 and R3 closes at the end of the month, and can be found here.

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Big Splash

The future of Big Splash is at a critical point.

• Save Big Splash held a community meeting on last night to hear from key decision-makers. The recording can be found here.

• The owners of Big Splash have until next Friday to respond to the government’s notice of intention to terminate lease.

• The Save Big Splash petition closes on Tuesday, and is very close to overtaking the petition figures seen with the Philip Pool in just four weeks. The petition can be found here.

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Hawker Tennis Centre

Seeking clarity on regulatory next steps. Petition closes next month.

• We are seeking clarity from government about when, and what regulatory action will be taken and what the future pathway looks like for the site. More information about whats happening at the Hawker Tennis Centre can be found here.

• The community petition can be found here, and closes next month.

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Kaleen Sports Centre

Should basement parking count towards a developer’s minimum recreation facility requirements?

• The developer hoping to redevelop the Kaleen Sports Club certainly thinks so (they even sought legal advice that is included in their DA).

• Their DA states that 1,773m2 of indoor recreation space has been provided (meeting the requirement of at least 1,400m2). 1,773m2 is a significant reduction from the 3,823m2 currently used as a club and an indoor recreation facility.

• However, on closer examination, 772m2 of this is basement parking. Excluding this, there is only 1,052m2 of indoor recreation space in this proposed redevelopment.

• We have yet to see how the new ‘outcome focused’ planning system will respond to proposals like this, but its difficult to see how this stacks up as a good outcome.

• With more proposals on the horizon that will reduce access to community facilities, how the planning authorities respond to this proposal will directly impact community confidence moving forward.

• More information can be found here.

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Environment Consultations

• Draft Nature Conservation Strategy 2026-2036

  • Have YourSay on the overarching policy for nature conservation in the ACT

• Developing the next ACT Climate Change Strategy

  • The ACT Government invites the community to help develop the next ACT Climate Change Strategy.

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Dunlop Shops

• Unfortunately, it has been confirmed that Dunlop Woolworths will be closing in late September 2026.

• The petition that has been started to show community support for the local shops can be found here.

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MLA Updates

• This is the inaugural month of our MLAs providing an update outside of the typical meeting structure.

• The format of these may change, and as always, we welcome your feedback.