The 2022 Annual General Meeting of the Belconnen Community Council will be held via Zoom from 7.00 pm Tuesday 20 September 2022. Details:
The 2022 Annual General Meeting of the Belconnen Community Council will be held via Zoom from 7.00 pm Tuesday 20 September 2022. Details:
We covered a lot of topics in our community meeting on Tuesday night!
Thank you to the team from the Suburban Land Agency who provided a presentation on the current plans for Lawson Stage 2, as well as the developments at Holt near the Caltex service station (Section 53), at Kippax, and at Belconnen Lakeshore.
A link to the meeting recording is below.
Other updates were:
– The William Hovell Drive Upgrade Development Application is now open for comment. Details of the project and links to the DA are here: https://www.cityservices.act.gov.au/…/william-hovell…
– The Umbagong Bridges ‘What We Heard’ Listening Report is out, reflecting key design changes arising from community consultation. More details here: https://drive.google.com/…/1juU8fCJmkyVj…/view…
– There is work currently being done in Emu Bank, Belconnen on drainage and garden beds, near the skate park.
– There is major drainage work being done in the Belconnen dog park.
– The waterfall in John Knight Park has been turned off for maintenance.
Broader consultation processes mentioned:
– Multicultural Recognition Act consultation: https://yoursayconversations.act.gov.au/multicultural… – there is an in-person session on Monday 27 June at 1-3pm at Nature Conservation House on Emu Bank.
– Better Regulation Report (both the long version and short summary version): https://www.cmtedd.act.gov.au/…/better-regulation…
– Discrimination Law Reform consultation: https://yoursayconversations.act.gov.au/discrimination…
The federal election has been run and won and congratulations to those who were successful in winning a seat in the 47th Parliament of Australia. I know the BCC Committee is looking forward to contributing to the conversation in the weeks ahead and we look forward to working respectfully and courteously with our federal representatives.
We’ve been busy since our May meeting providing input into the Combined Community Councils of the ACT discussion paper on the proposed changes to the Territory Planning process and the proposed Planning Bill. We’ve put together a Belconnen focussed submission and provided it for consideration to government as part of the broader consultation arrangements. In the main, we have supported the structures and proposals of the Canberra Planning Advisory Group (CPAG) and incorporated many of the features of the NSW Panel structures for the ACT. We are no longer just a city-state with a short term view of our place in the Australian community and it’s time we had a planning model that is designed for Canberra to flourish into the next century, rather than an after thought of self government. We will post the document to our website later this week and please take the time to have a look and provide any additional feedback.
We have updates this month from SLA on Lawson Stage 2 and I’m hoping they will hang around for our first item of General Business relating to the proposed sale of the carpark adjacent to the Service Station at Holt (aka Block 5 Section 53) for approximately 30 dwellings (which will include 5 affordable housing dwellings). Local residents received a letterbox drop last week from the SLA indicating the intention to put this block out for tender by 30 June 2022, consistent with the opportunities outlined in the Kippax Group Centre Master Plan.
With new vision comes new opportunities for us to expand our presence in the community and beyond, and I’m delighted to announce that our most recent addition to the BCC Committee, Mr Lachlan Butler, has expressed his interest in standing for the position of Chair at our next AGM. At a recent Committee meeting, Lachlan was endorsed and supported by committee members to start a buddying role with me to learn the ropes and become more familiar with the functions and responsibilities that go with being Chair of this great Council. I’m looking forward to helping Lachlan become more involved in the weeks ahead and I hope you’ll join me in thanking Lachlan for his commitment to step up to the next level.
As always, we look to you for new ideas and thinking. Please reach out if you’d like to help our sub committees in the months ahead as we maintain our Belconnen district as “The Jewel in Canberra’s Crown”.
Glen Hyde
Chair
Belconnen Community Council
21 June 2022
19 April 2022, 7pm
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87862117953
AGENDA
7pm Welcome
7.05pm Chair’s Report
7.15pm MLA’s update
7.30pm PEET University of Canberra Estate – For information
8pm Belconnen Premier Inn Redevelopment – Part of pre-DA community consultation
8.30pm General business
9pm Close
Next meeting: 7pm Tuesday 17 May 2022, online via Zoom
April has presented us with some interesting options based on the calling of the Federal election. Senator Seselja’s two major announcements for this district while welcome, aren’t front and centre of people’s thinking at the moment. The first announcement about removing blockers for release of more land to be made available for housing centred on the Ginninderra Project (formerly the Ginninderra Field Station), in our view misses the mark about availability and affordability. The major blocker is the lack of progress to bring together the parties (CSIRO, ACT Government and the National Capital Authority) to develop agreements on how the project moves forward from a plan on a page to a going concern. Once this occurs (and it won’t happen until after the Federal Government comes out of caretaker mode) then CSIRO should be able to secure a development partner to progress the project to a basic development application footing.
The second announcement was the long awaited upgrade to the AIS. We wrote to the Federal Sports Minister in 2020 and were assured the money would be forthcoming once the review was completed. Unfortunately, those assurances ran into blockages of their own with the Federal Government blaming the ACT Government for not coming to the party with a share of the upgrades. In our view, that’s akin to a landlord asking their tenant to paint the walls, fix the leaks, plumb the new pipes and make their home liveable under local and national standards; all while asking them to pay additional rent to ensure the landlord doesn’t incur any costs. Similarly, the less than $12m will barely cover the costs of upgrading seating and fire/emergency systems; at this point that money is restricted to the AIS Arena and nowhere else.
I’ve been asked why we aren’t running a candidates forum for this election and I can say our Committee has been consistent for a number of years on this. We are funded by the ACT Government under terms that provide us with some flexibility around political activities, but no money flows to us from the Commonwealth to conduct any activities on their behalf. While we welcome the Member for Fenner and our two ACT Senators to our monthly meetings to provide updates on how they are working with the ACT Government to deliver infrastructure and services, there is no remit to provide an election forum for them and other candidates to promote themselves and their policies. But what we have done this time is offer incumbents and candidates 30 minute briefings on what is important to our community; for those who live, work and play in our district. There are plenty of opportunities for the candidates and community members to interact, and our monthly meetings have always been targeted to meet those expectations; we don’t want to encourage one off forums every three years. What we do want is for that conversation to happen every month at our meetings, to see and hear from our federal representatives every four weeks from February to November each year; to make their efforts felt across the whole electoral cycle. With that in mind, we have started the conversation with our ACT MLAs in Ginninderra on a three monthly basis, meeting online to keep abreast of issues and matters of importance to our community. The first meeting happened just before our March meeting (and our thanks to Jo Clay and her office for making it happen), our next will be in early June once the Federal election circus has moved on.
As always, we look to you for new ideas and thinking. Please reach out if you’d like to help our sub committees in the months ahead as we maintain our Belconnen district as “The Jewel in Canberra’s Crown”.
Glen Hyde
Chair
Belconnen Community Council
19 April 2022
Our March community meeting is Tuesday 15 March at 7pm. Can you join us?
Here’s the agenda:
Belconnen Community Council General Meeting
15 March 2022, 7pm via Zoom https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87862117953
AGENDA
7pm Welcome
7.05pm Chair’s Report
7.15pm MLA’s update
7.30pm TCCS – Dockless shared e-scooters linking Belconnen and Central Canberra through the Bruce precinct
8pm Icon Water/Diona re Belconnen Trunk Sewer
8.30pm General business
9pm Close
2022 has certainly started with a bang and on the back of our Special December meeting, the inclusion of an update on the Umbagong Park Bridges really pushed this issue back into everyone’s conscience. Lots of radio and a front page on the Canberra Times has ensured we aren’t being re-prioritised down and thanks to our Ginninderra MLAs for re-engaging with our community on this critical issue. There’s a further update tonight from the TCCS team and we will keep this issue on the agenda as a standing item until we have an agreed solution.
We have made great strides in harmonising our consultation and communication channels on the major infrastructure projects (William Hovell & Drake-Brockman Drives, Umbagong Park and the proposed replacement green waste site) and in providing submissions on a number of issues. This has been because of your input as community members who want and expect better levels of information on the issues that affect you directly; we thank you for helping us stay on top of things over the last year.
On the back of that, your BCC Committee has formed four important sub committees to target, track and report on issues in more transparent way. The four sub committees are:
Initially, the committee will put some structure around these groups but we do intend to call on interested community members to join us to progress matters and use the subject matter experts within our district.
We note that the great work by community members at Melba with the SMILES initiative has failed to secure funding from the ACT Government. While this is disappointing, it’s not the end of the road. We will work with Tim and Hector, our Ginninderra MLAs and the directorates to keep this initiative alive. Huge thanks to everyone who has contributed to this very important project to date and stay tuned.
We made a submission on Policing Arrangements in January, consistent with previous views expressed to us over the last two years, but now with an important focus on getting a permanent presence at Kippax to reduce wait times for response. There is an increasing reliance on information and data services in a community policing space (this has impacted on some services now being reported online), but also on preventative measures. The ACT Government are partnering with Deloittes to capture the feedback of every community council and I participated in the first workshop last week; I’m confident our concerns were heard and captured appropriately. And on the subject of policing, my family were the recipients of a great act of community policing last Sunday when my granddaughter had an accident on her bike. I’ve been in contact with the local Belconnen Command, Neighbourhood Watch and the Minister’s Office to convey our thanks. We often complain that “police are never around when you need the,” (the last few weeks in chief because of the protest activities), but in our case they were not just there but present in every way. Our thanks to the two constables involved who stayed with us until the ambulance arrived and provided us with safety and comfort throughout; you are certainly our heroes!
Glen Hyde
Chair
Belconnen Community Council
15 February 2022
15 February 2022, 7pm
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87862117953
AGENDA
7pm Welcome
7.05pm Chair’s Report
7.15pm MLA’s update
7.30pm Lawson development update from Suburban Land Agency
8pm Umbagong Bridges upgrade update from Transport Canberra & City Services (TCCS)
8.30pm CSG Green Waste Update
8.45pm General business
9pm Close
Next meeting: 7pm Tuesday 15 March 2022, online via Zoom
We need your opinions to feed into the consultation process with ACT Government on this important change in the Hawker community. You can find our survey here and we will keep it open until Friday 4 February 2022. There are links in the survey to all the information on the proposed DA and if you have any questions please use the link in the survey to contact us.
| The ACT Government has been exploring options for the relocation of the green waste drop off which is currently located on Parkwood Road. Several sites were investigated to determine the most appropriate location for this service to continue in West Belconnen. At the conclusion of this work, a suitable site was identified on Stockdill Drive (location indicated below and attached). This site offers the ability to establish a long-term solution for processing green waste and could also accommodate the co-location of a landscaping supply business. The proposed site is just over 3km from the existing facility and will offer great access to the residents of Belconnen and North Canberra. An important consideration of any site is the requirement that it be located at least 1km from residential premises and have the appropriate environmental controls in place, which this proposed site would provide. The final location of the facility is subject to further consideration by Government including the outcome of a proposed development application process. Prior to the development application process, we are seeking to engage with the community now to ensure the site can meet the needs of all users. If you have any feedback please email communityengagement@act.gov.au by Friday 4 February 2022. Please note that any feedback you may wish to provide now does not prevent you making any submissions during the development application process as well. It is expected the development application process will commence in late-February/early March 2022. In the meantime, the green waste drop off will continue at the current Parkwood Road location until the new facility is operational. |