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:
Missed our community meeting on Tuesday night? Catch up on all the news via the recording – link below.
The meeting included presentations outlining plans for a new high-rise residential development at Swanson Street Belconnen, as well as a new aged care facility at 1 Bindel Street Aranda.
Other key points include:
– Funding for the new Umbagong Park bridges was confirmed in the pre-budget announcements last week. Plans have also been upgraded to include a new lookout and seat, changes to the balustrade height and the width of the bridges to allow for cyclists. New signage will be explored.
– Significant upgrades to Charnwood shops have also been funded, particularly outside Woolies.
– The DA finder app and DA website have been greatly enhanced. They now provide access to the past 5 years of development applications.
– A forward program of major playground upgrades planned for this term of government has been released. Within the Belconnen district there are Aranda and Kaleen.
– The Active Travel Plan has been released. A good proportion of improvements are in the Belconnen region.
– Florey Oval consultation should be opening soon. We will pass on that information when it is available.
– Peter Cain provided a link to the appearance by Glen Hyde and Matt Watts from Belcouncil to the ACT Government Inquiry into the West Belconnen Supercell Thunderstorm. Start at 33:30 of the following video: https://vimeo.com/725950289
Meeting recording:
https://us06web.zoom.us/…/nRqKLsmtJBb684k7n3T7iPqP3lusL…
Access Passcode: S%xpaa2h
While the recent announcement of funding under the ACT Governmentβs latest budget is very welcome, there are some significant gaps that we see arenβt consistent with us being the largest and most populous district. It is good to see the promised spending on upgrades to Umbagong Park are now enshrined; this community resource and biodiverse environment should always be a high priority and the lessons learned from over a quarter of a century of data from the Jarramlee Project should help us keep the balance right.
We also have the funding confirmed for the proposed new Green Waste facility at Strathnairn, but I am disappointed by some in our community who have taken the βNot In My Back Yardβ approach to this important community resource. Some of the stories that have been doing the rounds are extremely uninformed and in some cases, deliberately misleading; those who attended our meetings at the end of last year and beginning of this one will know what was being proposed and some of the early considerations. The question I have for everyone is: if not here, then where? Values of properties donβt generally go down because a government funded service is being provided nearby, but enjoyment due to environmental effect (smell) is real and the planning around location, prevailing winds and amelioration are things that can be better explored through consultation processes. Please keep an open mind about how we all as a community play a part in providing broader comfort to other parts of our district and beyond; a small amount of sacrifice often delivers the best result for everyone if we do it right!
The ongoing loss of an inclusive play space for our district continues to grate at me. Weβve had the SMILES initiative in Melba on the burner for two years but the support we garnered for a space in our district has been pushed further back, and as the largest district by volume it seems totally inconceivable that we wouldnβt be at the top of that list. No disrespect to our Inner North friends, but how do they qualify above us for this priority? Iβll write to Minister Steel and see what answers we can get by way of his office and the TCCS Directorate.
There are plenty of other issues doing the rounds as well: William Hovell Drive Duplication works, Drake-Brockman Drive/Pro Hart Avenue works, schools and play spaces, the enduring story that is Kippax Group Centre (and the upgrade to this area), as well as Giralang Shops and the proposed facility for Aranda. All are on our radar, but the one issue from the recent Federal election campaign that has fallen off is the Ginninderra Field Station site. There needs to be a process where this land can be re-purposed correctly to provide a safe environment for people, flora and fauna and thatβs where we need the focus to be. Not on politics or popularity, but good outcomes for everyone.
As always we rely on you to provide us with information and issues from across the district. We are always looking for help to stay on top of the workload, so if you would like to get involved weβd love to hear from you. You can email us at chair@belcouncil.org.au or hello@belcouncil.org.au for more information.
Glen Hyde
Chair
Belconnen Community Council
Tuesday, 19 July 2022
19 April 2022, 7pm
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87862117953
AGENDA
7pm Welcome
7.05pm Chairβs Report
7.15pm MLAβs 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 Seseljaβs two major announcements for this district while welcome, arenβt front and centre of peopleβs 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 wonβt 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, thatβs 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 doesnβt 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.
Iβve been asked why we arenβt 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 donβt 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 youβd like to help our sub committees in the months ahead as we maintain our Belconnen district as βThe Jewel in Canberraβs Crownβ.
Glen Hyde
Chair
Belconnen Community Council
19 April 2022
2022 continues to throw challenges at us; not just here in our district, but right across the world. The horrors of a war in the Ukraine, soaring fuel costs and the humanitarian wave that will follow are sure to touch us here in the weeks ahead. As always, we will do our bit to accommodate families who are fortunate enough to escape and find their way to our shores, but in the interim there are many different ways you can help.
Then thereβs the devastation to our north from the floods. Our thanks go out to all the volunteers and recovery workers who are pulling some incredible hours to help with the clean up; a big shout out to our ACT SES team who are up in Lismore as part of our contribution to their recovery.
The ACT Legislative Assembly is holding an inquiry into the January 3 storm that devastated areas of our district and surrounding areas of the territory. I spoke to Anna Vidot from 666 ABC Canberra about the state of the recovery effort, what people have told us and where we think the service offering can be better tailored to meet community expectation. The constant theme from those affected has been the framing of the response and the settings for the recovery; many of us who were around in the 1990s and 2000s remember weather events that took a similar time to recover from. It would appear that we still have those calibrations in place in 2022, so there is scope for the agencies involved to shift the dial closer to community expectations. You can contribute to the inquiry through us (our Environment Sub Committee will develop a submission) or directly here:
Itβs an interesting construct that so many politicians are referring to our current round of disasters as βone in xxxx year eventsβ; but they are sadly missing the point. The model that they refer to is one based on risk and likelihood in predicting an event; it is not based on historical data or occurrence. No one in living or recorded memory has seen an inundation of rain, wind and hail with such destructive force as we have seen so far this century. Sure weβve had more water or fire damage in years past, but it is the intensity with which they are happening that makes the science of prediction modelling look quite inept, so perhaps itβs time we all looked at a different way to cope. Planning for recovery should start with planning not to be in high risk areas and mitigating for life rather than profit. That starts with design for the interface between the natural and built environments and as a city state that has seen natural disasters on a huge scale, perhaps we can start to lead the way through this inquiry.
As always, we look to you for new ideas and thinking. Please reach out if youβd like to help our sub committees in the months ahead as we maintain our Belconnen district as βThe Jewel in Canberraβs Crownβ.
Glen Hyde
Chair
Belconnen Community Council
15 March 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 Chairβs Report
7.15pm MLAβs update
7.30pmΒ Β Β TCCS – Dockless shared e-scooters linking Belconnen and Central Canberra through the Bruce precinctΒ
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 everyoneβs conscience. Lots of radio and a front page on the Canberra Times has ensured we arenβt being re-prioritised down and thanks to our Ginninderra MLAs for re-engaging with our community on this critical issue. Thereβs 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, itβs 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; Iβm 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. Iβve been in contact with the local Belconnen Command, Neighbourhood Watch and the Ministerβs Office to convey our thanks. We often complain that βpolice are never around when you need the,β (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 Chairβs Report
7.15pm MLAβs 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.