Media Reports

Community Announcement: Planning Act Amendments and Community Engagement

With the passage of the new Planning Act last week, the Belconnen Community Council was glad to see the inclusion of key amendments that we lobbied for. These amendments addressed our concerns about community consultation and pre-DA consultation. These changes prioritized the voices of our community in the planning process, and we are grateful for this significant step forward compared to the draft bill.

However, while we appreciate the amendments, we acknowledge that concerns remain regarding the outcomes-based system and how it will impact Belconnen residents. In this vein, we support the built-in review mechanism to evaluate the system’s effectiveness and the potential need for further reforms. The government should be proactive and consider a continuous evaluation and review process of the planning system. We believe in ensuring active community participation in shaping the planning outcomes that impact our neighborhoods.

Additionally, we are disappointed that governance arrangements were not prioritized from the beginning. However, we welcome the amendment requiring an independent review of the governance arrangements within 12 months of the Planning Act’s passage. This review should examine the effectiveness of the independent planning body and explore the potential of local design panels, both of which we advocated for in our submission on the draft Bill. These measures will contribute to a more inclusive and community-centric planning framework.

We express our gratitude to the ACT Government, the Opposition and all stakeholders involved for their efforts in addressing our concerns and taking meaningful steps towards creating a more consultative and inclusive planning framework.

However our work is not yet done, we will keep advocating for the best planning outcomes for our community and if you are interested in helping out, we would love to hear from you.

The BCC remains committed to advocating for genuine and transparent community engagement in planning, and for a fit-for-purpose territory plan, district strategy, and design guides that deliver for the Belconnen community while delivering the housing our city needs.

Together, let’s shape the future of our community! 🌍✨

June 28, 2023 in Community, Government, Information, Media Reports, News, News and Events, Notices, Planning

Belconnen retains its 4000 strong workforce at Immigration

belco immigration

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection today announced that the 4000 Immigration employees working in the Town Centre will remain in Belconnen. Office accommodation arrangements have now been finalised, and although its Civic workforce will be relocating to the Airport, its Belconnen employees will remain in the Town Centre.

Some will relocate to the underutilised ABS Building on Benjamin Way, across the road from their main Belconnen building.

This is a tremendous result that the BCC, under former Chair Tara Cheyne, worked hard to achieve, with strong bipartisan political efforts at local and federal levels.

Todays announcement provides certainty to the workers and their families that faced enormous dislocation, and to the many small businesses that relied on the 4000 workers. The department employs around one third of the full time workforce located in the Town Centre and remains Belconnens largest employer.

This decision was almost certain following last years decision by the Finance Department to take local factors into consideration when contemplating relocation of departments.

The decision was advised to all staff via an email on 5 May 2016:

Belconnen retains its Immigration workforce

Belconnen retains its Immigration workforce

The media covered the decision here and here.

Senator Zed Seselja commented on the decision by saying:

“Along with the Belconnen community I fought to ensure the [department] remained in its current location with the same staffing footprint, and I’m pleased that we won that fight,”

“Our government is the first ever to take into consideration local impacts on Canberra before making a decision regarding departmental accommodation and today’s announcement shows just how important this was.

“We now have certainty for businesses and staff located at the Belconnen town centre.

“We all know that the presence of government departments in our town centres is critical to maintaining the viability of many local small businesses. This is how Canberra was designed and we need to protect that.

“A move of the DIBP from Belconnen town centre would not have been in the best interest of the Belconnen community. It was vital to ensure this did not happen.

May 5, 2016 in Community, Government, Media Reports, News Comments (1)