Canberra Girls Grammar is conducting significant work their Senior School campus, on Melbourne Ave, during the Christmas break.

During the break, the CGGS Maintenance and Grounds team will work with external contractors to improve lighting and safety, enhance traffic flow, and improve the frontage of the School.

As they approach their Centenary in 2026, the School says that during the upgrade it will continue to honour its heritage and history throughout the upcoming works and any works in the future. While working to upgrade the southwest corner of the Senior School campus, the team will plant 39 new trees, create new open spaces, and implement significant soft and hard landscaping taking inspiration from the historical photos of the School to respect its heritage.

As a part of this project, the school’s maintenance team with the assistance of experts and in accordance with the Tree Protection Act 2005 and approval of the ACT Government, have identified several Cyprus trees aligning Melbourne Avenue and Gawler Crescent – many of which have fallen in storms recently – requiring removal.

The major works will be conducted from early December through to early March. The school does not expect that these works will have a major impact on the public, however, for a short period the footpath on Gawler Crescent may be closed with alternative routes provided by ACT Government.

If you don’t support the tram you might like to sign this petition

Jeremy Hanson MLA has set up an online petition so that people who oppose the tram can support the case to stop it. It reads:

“To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory

This petition of residents of the Australian Capital Territory draws to the attention of the Assembly the following:

• The tram caused over $400 million to be ripped out of hospitals, and nearly $90 million from road funding.
• Rates have increased at record levels.
• The ACT has a critical teacher shortage, the longest hospital waiting times in Australia, the lowest number of police per capita, and massive debt.
• Trams are much slower than existing buses, and electric buses are more affordable and environmentally friendly.
• The funding could be better spent on better hospitals, better roads, more police and better schools.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the Assembly to call on the Government to:

1. Stop Light Rail Project 2B.”

SPONSORED BY JEREMY HANSON MLA

The link to this petition: Stop the tram (jeremyhanson.net)

DRA is forwarding this opportunity so its members can respond as they decide and if they support the petition.

Emma Davidson MLA, Minister for Veterans and Seniors and Member for Murrumbidgee will make a presentation by video – Bridge Club Deakin on the Age Friendly Planning Strategy.
Join us on Wednesday 9 November 2022 from 6pm

She will be followed by Prue Power AM, Chair, Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing, who will speak on the Age Friendly City Plan. All welcome.

The AGM for the DRA will follow. Notice of 2022 Annual General Meeting and Agenda, Nomination form to join the committee
You can join by ZOOM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83978282419?pwd=WXUxL1QwNFZlMnJMSlRVWWhacDY1QT09

Email vicepresident@deakinresidents.asn.au before the meeting for the passcode

A new Childcare Centre, 2 Two Storey residences approved for the St Luke’s Church Site

On 12 September 2022, The Planning and Land Authority, ACT Government, approved the Development Application submitted by the Anglican Church on 11 November 2021.
On 16 September 2022, the Decision was made known by email to those who had made representations.
The attached Page 1 of the 16 Page Notice of Decision, gives approval for:

• Demolition of the existing church building and associated structures,
• construction of a 120 place childcare centre including playrooms, amenities, and associated facilities, new landscaped outdoor play area,
• construction of new driveways, verge and carparking,
• construction of two new two-storey dwellings with attached garages for church use,
• civil works including lighting, pathways and fencing, landscaping including tree removal and replacement, and associated works, and

Variation of the Crown lease to permit child care centre, at Block 01 Section 30 DEAKIN, in accordance with the plans, drawings and other documentation approved and endorsed as forming part of this approval.

A copy of the application and the decision are available for inspection on the Public Register.
The Register can be inspected between 8:30am and 4:30pm weekdays at Access
Canberra Customer Service Centre, 8 Darling Street Mitchell, ACT.
If, however, you would like a copy of the full Notice of Decision please send an email to: davisgill@yahoo.com a copy of the Notice of Decision will be sent to your email address.

Representations in relation to the Development Application were submitted in December 2021 by the Deakin Residents Association and several nearby residents. The issues raised in these representations, especially in relation to parking and traffic flow, have seemingly had little or no impact on the decision to approve the Proposal.

A review of the decision can only be made through the ACT Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal (ACAT). An Application Form together with the required fee has to be lodged within 28 days.

Kent and Novar Streets – traffic changes 

DRA has received the following information about intersection works and road closures

One of the first construction activities on site will be the demolition of traffic islands and the roundabout at the intersection of Novar Street and Dudley Street and the placement of concrete barriers to enable construction works to be undertaken safely. To facilitate these activities there will be two weekend road closures.

Kent Street will be closed in both directions between Denison Street and Novar Street from:

• 7 am Saturday 27 August to 7 am Monday 29 August 2022; and
• 7 am Saturday 3 September to 7 am Monday 5 September 2022.

If for any reason one of these road closures is unable to take place, work will continue on the following weekend.

During these road closures vehicles will be unable to:

• turn left from Denison Street onto Kent Street
• exit from Adelaide Avenue onto Kent Street (north and southbound)
• turn right from Dudley Street onto Kent Street or continue straight onto Adelaide Avenue (vehicles will still be able to turn left onto Novar Street from Dudley Street)
• continue straight from Novar Street to head onto Kent Street and across the bridge to Deakin (southbound) or to turn right into Dudley Street.

Adelaide Avenue off-ramp works

Works are underway in the verge alongside the Adelaide Avenue off-ramp. During these works a short section of one of the off-ramp lanes will be closed, however vehicles will still be able to turn left and right onto Kent Street at the top of the off-ramp.

Updates will continue to be provided via the project page and email.

If you have any questions, please email communityengagement@act.gov.au

ISCCC SUBMISSION IN RESPONSE TO ACT ACTIVE TRAVEL PLAN

 The Inner South Combined Community Councils (ISCCC), representing residents’ groups in the inner south area, is pleased to provide comment on the Active Travel Plan (published 27 July 2022)

The ISCCC is generally supportive of the Active Travel Plan for Canberra and agrees with the Priority areas for implementation. We have some comments and suggestions addressing the Priorities and actions in the submission below.

We have also encouraged our members to make individual contributions via Your Say, on the interactive maps of cycle and foot paths and overall plan.

Priority 1 – Reinforcing the existing network by upgrading paths with methods to separate transport modes and to increase safety should be given a high priority, especially on primary routes.  Routes such as Adelaide Avenue provide little separation between vehicle, cycle and pedestrian modes and this is a major obstacle to its use, especially for commuters to and from the city.  Quick build solutions should be prioritised for these primary commuter routes.

Cotter Road should be prioritised for active travelling upgrades and extended through to the intersection with Adelaide Avenue and connected to Canberra Avenue to accommodate growth and usage from the rapidly developing Molonglo Valley.

Development of Light Rail Stage 2B will have a significant impact on Deakin and other inner south areas. Now is an ideal time to develop viable Active Travel routes that can be incorporated efficiently into future transport network design and provide a timely response to Light Rail disruption. Consultation has yet to be undertaken with residents’ associations to discuss concerns and options.

Priority 2 – Being an area of older suburbs, the inner south has a number of footpaths which are narrow, no longer fit for purpose and have deteriorated over time. Further attention to repairing and widening these paths could encourage and support more residents to take up the option of active transport.

The Active Travel routes should be reviewed with all relevant stakeholders to ensure they connect key locations such as shops and schools, are coherent with current and future use patterns, be separated from road traffic, and provided with appropriate priority at road crossings.

Some areas identified by residents for improvements include:

• Area around the Fyshwick markets, Railway station and light industrial/commercial area of Fyshwick. Considering the future development of Eastlake and Dairy Flat Road and the growth of the old Narrabundah area, there is room for improvement and connectivity by walking, cycling and other transport means, such as electric scooters, around these areas.
• Telopea Park (more space for shared pathways) and Brisbane Avenue (degraded foothpaths)
• The East Lake Place Plan needs attention to allocating space for new active paths and to connect to Fyshwick, Narrabundah and Dairy Rd because there will be more residents and the wetlands paths are quite busy now. We need a better network.
• Deakin residents are concerned at the lack of cycle path infrastructure in their area. Continuing growth in suburban traffic and commercial area development within the suburb has highlighted the inadequacy of the current network. The Deakin Residents Association is seeking to accelerate the development of key active travel routes in the inner south-west of Canberra in conjunction with Pedal Power.
• Red Hill has some good access paths around the Red Hill Reserve area; however there are concerns around the condition of many footpaths, particularly with a large cohort in the area of senior citizens.

DRA is concerned that proposed intensification of our suburb is not compatible with the Garden City. The experience of Inner South Canberra residents is that intensification nearly always involves reduced tree cover, loss of gardens, and increased coverage of blocks by buildings. Re-development in Canberra is messy, not properly regulated and results in loss of privacy, traffic problems and infill which is not acceptable to neighbours. It drives up the rates for nearby properties and puts pressure on services

Concentration of new infill housing will include inner south Canberra and along transit corridors. Canberra Light Rail is part of this Strategy, as the report shows – Canberra Light Rail Stage 2B: Urban infill capability Assessment ]
It analyses the Light Rail Stage 2B route and presents options for intensification. The option that concerns the DRA Committee (Figure 45 on page 83) is shown below.

The red zone is to be subject to intensive development with increased building heights. The orange and violet lines enclose the area from which customers are expected to walk to the Light Rail stops.

• The Mecone report is designed to support the Government’s push for Light Rail Stage 2B
• It proposes options for intensification of Inner South Canberra suburbs based on claims of economic benefits, without providing supporting evidence
• While proposing rezoning to higher densities and increased high limits, it concedes that the existing planning framework provides for significant growth
• The proposals in the report go against the wishes of the Inner South Canberra community
• Intensification is likely to make housing in the Inner South less affordable

The major finding of the Mecone report is that the “existing planning framework under the base case scenario, has significant capacity for growth” and “could already support an increase in 23,800 dwellings”. It says that the need for catalytic changes in the planning controls in the Study Area is not considered critical when purely considering the capacity for growth that already exists. If this is so, why is there a need to increase densities?

The Mecone report, developed in consultation with the ACT Government, admits that intensification will need additional enabling infrastructure but that this was not within the scope of their study. Thus, the consultant has not taken into account the cost of upgrading water, sewage, electricity, schools, transport etc in Inner South Canberra suburbs.

Inner South Canberra (including Deakin) residents have previously made it clear in both the ACT Government survey (Places and Spaces Survey 2019) and in the ISCCC 2019-20 Inner South Community Values, Interests and Concerns survey that they strongly support single detached dwellings and want housing to be no higher than two storeys and low density. They want to retain leafy low-rise character and decrease high density apartment development.  Some 54 per cent of respondents to the ISCCC survey have concerns about planning development.

The Mecone report, on the other hand, proposes increased heights in West Deakin of 4-6 storeys, but avoids a specific statement on what their recommended intensification means for the rest of the suburb. Nowhere in the report is the “Garden City” concept mentioned although the report does recognise that green spaces and the large canopy trees are highly valued by the Curtin community (this is not mentioned in commentary on other suburbs!). The Mecone report also assumes that residents will be willing to walk 800m to catch the tram. This is wishful thinking. Studies in other cities suggest that 250m is the upper limit.

Australian studies have concluded that zoning for higher density has increased house prices (and have had other undesirable impacts). [2] In other words, intensification makes housing less affordable. The benefits of intensification have not been demonstrated by Mecone or the ACT Government. Claims of “greater efficiency” have not been supported by any evidence.

The DRA Committee recommends that residents write to MLAs voicing their opposition to intensification of Inner South Canberra. We suggest that you urge our representatives to publicly state that they reject the recommendations of the Mecone report.

Deakin is in the Murrumbidgee electorate. MLAs representing us are:

Chris Steel (steel@act.gov.au )

Marisa Paterson (paterson@parliament.act.gov.au )

Jeremy Hanson (hanson@parliament.act.gov.au )

Emma Davidson (davidson@act.gov.au )

The postal address of the Legislative Assembly is: GPO Box 1020, CANBERRA ACT 2601.

For more information, contact president@deakinresidents.asn.au

[2] See Limb and Murray, 2021, We zoned for density and got higher house process: Supply and price effects of upzoning over 20 years, QUT Working Paper, accessed on 23 May 2022 at https://eprints.qut.edu.au/209104/ and also see the references cited by these authors

A Tell-all about Red Hill’s Red-headed Larrikin – the Glorious Gang-gang

Hosted by the Red Hill Regenerators

5.30pm Wednesday 24 August, Federal Golf Club

The Red Hill precinct is important for Gang gangs, supporting about 10 breeding pairs and has been the subject of considerable survey and research. A third of all the known nest sites for this species, across its total range, are on or in the vicinity of Red Hill. Come and learn about Red Hill’s Gang-gangs and how you can be further involved in their study and conservation.

Dr Michael Mulvaney will be presenting the findings of 5 years of Gang-gang study by Red Hill Regenerators in conjunction with the Canberra Ornithological Group, the ACT Government and hundreds of other citizen scientists. The study has revealed much that was previously unknown about the Gang-gang feeding and nesting behaviours and tells us much about our local birds.

Please only attend if you are well and don’t have any COVID 19 symptoms.

Social housing in Canberra

Planning for East Lake, between the Kingston Foreshore and Fyshwick

Public Forum
Tuesday, July 12th, 2022, 7-9pm

Eastlake Football Club (Duffy Rm), 3 Oxley Street, Griffith and Online

Join us to hear speakers on the social housing situation in Canberra and the inner south. You will also hear about the latest planning for East Lake, the area between the Kingston Foreshore and Fyshwick.

Social Housing

Social housing includes public housing and housing provided by not-for-profit community organisations for people on low to moderate incomes with a housing need.

Our speakers include:

• Dr Emma Campbell, CEO, ACT Council of Social Service: “Vulnerability and injustice in a ‘progressive’ jurisdiction”
• Mr Jon Stanhope, former ACT Chief Minister: “Issues raised by the program of ACT public housing tenant evictions”
• Dr Khalid Ahmed, Adjunct Professor, Institute of Government and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, and former senior ACT Government Treasury official: “Public housing stock over time and performance, and financial arrangements for the stock renewal”
• Dr David Denham, President, Griffith Narrabundah Community Association: “Public housing in inner south Canberra and issues with the current system.”

Planning for East Lake

Tait Network, consultants to the ACT Government, will talk about the Place Plan and other planning for East Lake. The Place Plan will bring together the many ideas of the inner south community and its organisations – the people who live, work and play in the project area – to guide planning for the precinct.

Please register in advance of the meeting, as the Duffy Room at the Eastlake Football Club has a capacity limit of 70:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/378931413057

The ISCCC will also trial live-streaming the meeting on Facebook (subject to sufficient network bandwidth that evening):

https://m.facebook.com/InnerSouthACT/

And on YouTube at:
https://youtu.be/_RNB_OKAOSI