GCC Public Meeting 12 October 2022

GCC Public Meeting 12 October 2022

The next public meeting of the Gungahlin Community Council (GCC) will be held on Wednesday 12 October 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.

Agend

  • GCC Update, GCC
  • Health Services Update – Northside Hospital, Northside Clinical Services and Integrated Care, ACT Health Directorate
  • Kamberra Development Update, Elgin Group

GCC Submission in Response to Draft Planning Bill 2022

A major element of the ACT Government’s ACT Planning System Review and Reform Project was the drafting of a new Planning Act. This is a very substantial legal document (over 700 pages) which was published for comment over the period 16 March to 15 June 2022. The GCC’s response (also on the YourSay consultaton page) was based on our experiences advocating for improved outcomes in the Gungahlin Town Centre.


ACT Planning System Review and Reform Project – Draft Planning Bill

The Gungahlin Community Council (GCC) agrees that ACT Planning System needs reform.

For more than five years (starting in December 2016) the GCC has advocated for changes to the ACT Planning System to ensure that the Gungahlin Town Centre meets the expectations of Gungahlin residents. The GCC has learned that the current Planning System cannot be trusted to “do the right thing” and that community-initiated changes to the System are extremely difficult. We have also learned that for Planning to be effective it needs to be enforced when it’s implemented in the real (commercial) world.

The GCC had hoped the Reformed Planning System would identify, enshrine, and defend the needs and interests of the community against the expertise, resources and commercial intent of the development industry, and (potential) short-term decision making by government. Further, to restore trust, we hoped the process of reform would be collaborative, allowing the community to understand and be part of the change, rather than being a victim of it – “Building trust in the Planning system should be a priority” (Stakeholder Series Report) was . Unfortunately, despite a promising start (the Community Engagement Workshops in May 2019), this is not how the reform has unfolded to date, with most “consultation” taking the form of notification.

The consultation currently being undertaken on the new Planning Bill is consistent with our concerns. Many hundreds of pages of draft legislation have been provided, along with an Overview document and a series of Fact Sheets. A very high level of assumed knowledge is required to be able to consider the material provided and it’s clear that any stakeholder that might wish to respond to the consultation would need a strong background and/or expertise in ACT legislation and planning to do so.

The Planning Bill is almost impossible for the average citizen to comprehend, and no serious attempt has been made by the Directorate to make it “relevant” to the general public. The Planning Bill has been presented without the new Territory Plan or District Strategies which might have made it clear “what goes where” and “how things will work”. It may also have helped if “Further detail on the proposed approach to detailed structure and content will be provided during the public consultation period” (from Planning Bill Policy Overview) had been actioned; unfortunately, this detail has not been forthcoming.

The GCC lacks the legislative and planning expertise that many of the other Community Councils have access too, and consequently our feedback and recommendations are quite high level. We encourage the government to place significant weight on the feedback from all Community Councils, all of whom place the interests of the residents of Canberra first.

Specifically, the GCC does not support:

  1. The removal of Pre-DA consultation – If the Planning Directorate is of the view that Pre-DA Consultation is ineffective it needs to be fixed. Pre-DA consultation has proven to lead to better outcomes in several instances in Gungahlin and is consistent with the goal of ensuring that engagement is early and informed.
  2. The notion that the Principles of Good Consultation are at the whim of the Minister – These principles should be a mandatory part of the act and genuinely co-developed with the community and industry (not proposed for comment).
  3. The suggestion that the compliance and enforcement powers are fit for purpose and comprehensive – In the past decade there have been several compliance issues in Gungahlin and there is widespread community perception that there is little enforcement and what there is has little impact or consequence on the infringing proponents

The GCC recommends that the ACT Government:

  • Fund an independent review of the proposed Planning Bill by an external (non-ACT government) legal counsel to validate the objectives of the Bill are correctly and validly drafted.
  • Take up the offer from the Chair of the Legislative Assembly’s Planning Committee to provide additional scrutiny of the Planning Bill and/or Reform, ideally through an Inquiry.
  • To build trust in the Reform process going forward, establish a substantive panel of relevant community and industry stakeholders that are given the necessary training to interpret the Planning Bill (and the Reform more broadly), and to genuinely contribute to the co-development of the new Territory Plan and District Strategies.
  • To build trust in the District Strategies, fund a representative group for each District group/forum to inform and oversee the development and implementation of the District Strategies. Such a group might include relevant MLA’s, representatives from different community sectors (eg. Business, Sporting, Aged, Youth) and community representatives, perhaps chosen by ballot from interested volunteer candidates.
  • Provide specific examples of how “outcomes based” works when compared to the current Planning System.
  • Work with the Gungahlin community to explore how the recommendations from the consultancy on mixed-use planning might be implemented in the new Territory Plan and/or Gungahlin District Strategy.

GCC Public Meeting 14 September 2022

GCC Public Meeting 14 September 2022

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.

Agend

GCC Public Meeting 10 August 2022

GCC Public Meeting 10 August 2022

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.

Agenda

Gungahlin Community Facilities Report Released

On 19 April 2022 the ACT Government released the Community and Recreational Facilities Assessment—Gungahlin District. The contract for this work was signed in December 2020 (as reported by the RiotACT), and is part of a range of activities regarding Commmunity Facilities in Gungahlin including the

  • Gungahlin community centre,
  • Casey land release, and
  • Future planning.

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.

Download (PDF, 203KB)

 

GCC Public Meeting 8 June 2022

The next public meeting of the Gungahlin Community Council (GCC) will be held on Wednesday 8 June 2022 starting at 6:30pm at the Gungahlin Club.

As usual, the meeting will also be live streamed on Facebook via the GCC Facebook page.

Agenda

Roads Minister Responds – Intersections to be Reviewed

Roads Minister Responds – Intersections to be Reviewed

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.

 

 

 

 

 

NBN Upgrade for Casey Stage 1

NBN Technology Deployment in southern parts of Casey, Gungahlin; FTTP (purple), FTTN (yellow) – Source: http://nbnmtm.australiaeast.cloudapp.azure.com/

In January 2021 the Combined Community Councils of the ACT launched a campaign to secure a portion of NBN’s $4.5B FTTN upgrade program for Canberra. This led to 10 suburbs in south and inner north Canberra being added to this program in May 2021 (Canberra suburbs to be upgraded to faster internet).

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.

 

Federal Election Forum 11 May 2022

Federal Election Forum 11 May 2022

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.

The forum be live streamed on Facebook via the GCC Facebook page.

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
    • Expansion of the Medicare office in Gungahlin.

NBN for Casey – Push for Technology Switch to FTTP

NBN for Casey – Push for Technology Switch to FTTP
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)
The link to request the upgrade from your specific provider is here https://www.nbnco.com.au/…/find-a-participating-provider
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.

NBN Technology in Casey – Yellow is Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN), Purple is Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) – from http://nbnmtm.australiaeast.cloudapp.azure.com/