The next public meeting of the Gungahlin Community Council (GCC) will be held on Wednesday 14 September 2022 starting at 6:30pm. We will be meeting in-person at the Eastlake Gungahlin Club.
As usual the meeting will be live streamed on Facebook via the GCC Facebook page.
The next public meeting of the Gungahlin Community Council (GCC) will be held on Wednesday 10 August 2022 starting at 6:30pm. In response to the advice from health authorities:
THE MEETING WILL BE ONLINE – NOT FACE TO FACE
We will be runing the meeting on the Zoom videoconferencing platform and as usual the meeting will be live streamed on Facebook via the GCC Facebook page.
Attendees are strongly encouraged to join the Zoom virtual room meeting. Please REGISTER HERE and you will be emailed the link needed to join the Zoom meeting.
The report highlights the chronic lack of facilities in Gungahlin – an issue raised frequently by the GCC. Of the 28 types of community facility identified in the asessment, 57% (16) are either not meeting demand (9) or require further investigation regarding demand (7) (over the period being considered, ie. out to 2045). It should be noted that some of the analysis could be improved, but the assessment is very important because:
This report will inform further consultation, identification of priorities, and decision making by the ACT Government on a range of community and recreational facilities.
The report reviews all the previous studies done in this space (7 of them, going back to 1998!) which higlights that many of the needs (indoor sports, youth centre, aged cared, community halls/meeting spaces) have been well known for some time. It also introduces some benchmarks for facilities which can be applied more broadly across Canberra.
The conclusion from the executive summary states:
Additional community and recreational facilities that may require further investigation for provision in Gungahlin include:
Public primary schools and public colleges
Community centres and neighbourhood halls – which could be delivered as part of the proposed community centre in the Gungahlin Town Centre
Flexible meeting rooms/spaces – which ideally would be co-located with the proposed community centre or co-located with other facilities
Residential aged care facilities and places and aged day care centre (respite)
Dedicated arts space – potentially part of the proposed community centre
Dedicated space for youth activities and programs – potentially part of the proposed community centre
An indoor sports court centre
Outdoor sports courts facilities – additional courts that can be used for netball/basketball (noting that these have different size requirements).
The summary table from the report is included below.
The GCC would very much like your feedback on this report – what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s been missed. Respond below or email us.
In October 2021 the GCC wrote to Roads Minister Chris Steel seeking more information regarding accidents and crashes in Gungahlin, and seeking a regular meeting with City Services to ensure matters of interest to Gungahlin residents can be raised, tracked and actioned.
Detailed crash data was provided late in 2021 (as detailed in Gungahlin Traffic Accident Data) and in a letter dated 16 May 2022 the Minister confirmed that a meeting with City Services including ACT Roads would be put in place.
The Minister also indicated in his letter that:
I am also pleased to inform you that feasibility studies will be undertaken on upgrades to the following Gungahlin intersections in 2022-23, which have been identified as priorities for the 2023-24 Blackspot Program: • Anthony Rolfe Avenue / Eva Wes Street / Manning Clark Crescent • Efkarpidis Street / Hinder Street • Ernest Cavanagh Street / Gozzard Street • Ernest Cavanagh Street / Hinder Street
These locations are shown on this map:
The Minister also advised that:
As you are aware from my previous presentation at Gungahlin Community Council (GCC), the ACT Government has committed to develop a traffic model for Gungahlin, to investigate and assess potential safety and efficiency improvements to the traffic network across the region. I am pleased to update you that procurement for a consultant to develop this model is nearing finalisation, with a contract expected to be awarded soon. Once in contract, the work is expected to take 6-12 months to complete.
The GCC subsequently asked the NBN whether Casey Stage 1 could also be included in this program and were told that it was; this was announced in a GCC Facebook post on 5 July 2021 (and shared to the Casey Facebook group on the same day). The post stated that the NBN:
“can confirm the part of Casey that is currently not served by FTTP is on our list of suburbs that we intend to perform an FTTP-enabled upgrade in. However, as with all of the planned FTTN to FTTP-enabled upgrades, this will be subject to technical, engineering and cost factors and it is possible that for those reasons the company may not proceed with upgrading those parts of Casey. At this stage, the company plans to make a final decision about upgrading those areas of Casey in late April 2022”.
The GCC has confirmed that Casey stage 1 is still scheduled to be upgraded to be FTTP-capable, and that the “field validation” remains scheduled for 1Q2023. The upgrade will take 6 months to build, assuming the validation passes, and once complete upgrades to FTTP for homes will be triggered by residents placing orders for services of (at least) 100Mbs.
Residents in Casey Stage 1 considering paying for an NBN Technology Choice upgrade may wish to hold off until the field validation process is complete.
The next public meeting of the Gungahlin Community Council (GCC) will be a Federal Election Candidates Forum on Wednesday 11 May 2022 starting at 6:30pm at the Eastlake Gungahlin Club, 51 Hinder Street, Gungahlin (Directions).
The forum provides an opportunity for the residents of Gungahlin to interact directly with candidates and ask them questions. All candidates seeking to be elected (on 21 May) to represent the ACT in the Federal Senate and for the Federal electorate of Fenner have been invited to attend.
All parties represented at the forum will be asked to provide an opening statement, and then residents will have an opportunity to direct questions to the candidates.
The GCC has asked candidates to consider the following topics in their opening statements:
Employment in Gungahlin
What actions will you take to facilitate the development of employment and community services in the Gungahlin Town Centre?
What actions will you take to establish (or relocate) Commonwealth agencies, offices, or facilities in the Gungahlin Town Centre or Gungahlin region?
How would you support the commitment from the ACT Government to work with the Federal government to establish a flexible workplace hub in Gungahlin, as articulated in the “Gungahlin Town Centre – A Prospectus for APS Investment“?
Infrastructure in the Gungahlin Region
The Barton Highway-Gundaroo Drive intersection has the highest accident rate in the ACT. Will you work to secure funding to replace the existing roundabout at this location with an overpass and for the duplication and further improvement of the Barton Highway?
How will you ensure the sale and subsequent redevelopment of the CSIRO Ginninderra site results in quality outcomes for the residents of Gungahlin, Belconnen and, more broadly, Canberra?
Will you ensure the 850 premises in Gungahlin (Casey Stage 1) and the village of Hall with Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN) NBN connections are upgraded to Fibre-to-the Premise (FTTP)?
Gungahlin is a region of young families that lacks many of the community and sporting facilities expected by residents. Can you describe your education, health and sport policies, and what specific funding commitments you would make to improve health services and develop community sporting facilities in Gungahlin including:
Supporting the proposed Community/Arts Centre in the Town Centre and the Multicultural Centre at EPIC
Further improvements to parks such as Yerrabi Pond and surrounding nature reserves such as Mulligans Flat
Casey resident Craig Burgers is encouraging residents of Casey, particularly in Casey Stage 1, to apply for an NBN technology switch to FTTP and to provide evidence of their existing FTTN NBN experience. His post from the Casey, ACT. Northside of Canberra Facebook group is replicated below:
This post is specifically for the residents in Casey stage 1, where the NBN rollout delivered speed limited Fibre to the Node (FTTN) technology vs the rest of not only Casey, but Gungahlin which received much faster Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technology.
Recently the NBN has opened a technology switch program whereby if you are prepared to upgrade to a higher NBN plan (which you would need to do if you wanted the increase in speed anyway) you could get a technology switch (to FTTP)
I have registered for a speed upgrade (there is no cost to register) and during the application I asked that if there were more applications within an area, if more emphasis would be placed on the technology switch, to which the answer was probably. I would encourage everyone to apply.
I would like to gauge how many residents would be happy to upgrade their plan in order to get a FTTP upgrade. If you would be happy to upgrade, please PM or email me. Additionally, if you could send me your speed test results (go to http://www.speedtest.net and hit go – it will perform a bandwidth test and give you results)
Gungahlin Community Council have also been rallying to have our area upgraded and have contacts within NBN and Parliament. Given the upcoming election, the timing here is perfect, and if you are approached to take a flyer or have a conversation with a candidate or their staff, ask them what they are doing about the NBN in Casey Stage 1.
The area we are talking about is shown in yellow on the map below.
The next public meeting of the Gungahlin Community Council (GCC) will be held on Wednesday 13 April 2022 starting at 6:30pm at the Gungahlin Club. Yes we are MEETING IN PERSON !
As usual, the meeting will also be live streamed on Facebook via the GCC Facebook page.
Agenda
GCC Update, GCC
Neighbourhood Watch Update, Laurie Blackall, President Neighbourhood Watch ACT
Following consultation with the community in mid-2021, a number of improvements were identified and fast-tracked to enhance the recreation areas around Yerrabi Pond. Works are now complete for some new improvements, including:
new seating
new ‘shared path’ signage
new plantings and mulch
fresh paint on the nautical sculptures, planter boxes and shade structure at the playground.
More is to come, but in the meantime, check out some of the improvements below.
Fresh paint on the shade structure
Fresh paint on the nautical sculptures
Planning and design works
In our last email we notified you funding had been provided in the 2021-22 ACT Budget for planning and design works for improved and new amenities. We are glad to share the first tender has been awarded associated with the parking and streetlighting improvements and site investigations have commenced.
Water quality
We’ve also heard from the community queries about the growth of algae at Yerrabi Pond. This growth is due the recent warm weather and is a natural process due to the level of nutrients entering the system. The algae is non-toxic and its growth is an important process as it absorbs nutrients that would otherwise be available to fuel the growth of toxic species of algae like blue-green algae.
Floating wetland
Here’s an update on the floating wetland to be delivered by the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate. The construction team for the floating wetland is in the process of finalising approvals to install the wetland design. We anticipate the wetland will be deployed in the coming months. You can find out more about floating wetland projects here.
Updates for Yerrabi Pond recreation areas will continue to be provided via YourSay.
