Gungahlin news

Xmas Update

Written by Ewan Brown Friday, 30 December 2011 10:59

The Executive of the Gungahlin Community Council wishes all Gungahlin a happy & safe Christmas & New Year break.

Our forums will recommence in early February & we are planning a lot of activity in the lead up to the 2012 Legislative Assembly elections. We are intending to hold three additional Community Forums on matters including Block Sizes, Electoral boundaries & Public Transport between February & July. We welcome contributions & support on any issues that affect the community to strengthen our representations. We need women on the Executive to redress a current gender imbalance!

The Gungahlin Community is now beginning to get some long-awaited amenities but the expected growth is substantial & it is inevitable that many more problems will arise before solutions are found. Therefore the GCC needs to be more pro-active & we require more active participants to further improve our effectiveness."

Ewan Brown, President.

Issues list for the Gungahlin Community

News - Community & business

Written by Ewan Brown Wednesday, 09 November 2011 08:51

GUNGAHLIN COMMUNITY COUNCIL (GCC) VISION

· GCC seeks adherence to the original concept of self-contained satellite centres serviced by all necessary amenities minimising the need for residents to travel to other centres for work, shopping, services & entertainment.

· Gungahlin has matured but still lacks services & amenities necessary to cater effectively for the current, and growing, population.

· Gungahlin needs representation from candidates who live in the area or in nearby suburbs within the electorate to have a better affinity in understanding the issues facing local residents & businesses.

DRAFT ISSUES LIST for the Gungahlin Community compiled the GCC

The GCC Executive has identified the following issues by the as being the key areas of concern for Gungahlin residents as at November 2011. The list has been posted on the GGC website for community comment & ranking (if necessary). The GCC Executive will represent the community in seeking the addressing of these issues & will report regularly on progress.

The list will be forwarded to all ACT Legislative Assembly members & their contributions noted.

The list will be a living document, regularly updated as issues are progressed & as new issues arise. It will form the basis of commitments to the Gungahlin area sought from candidates for the 2012 ACT Legislative Assembly elections.

GCC wants an information service (Developments in Your Community), complete with maps, from the ACT Government to advise residents of the type & status of ongoing developments in the area. This will cover roadworks, new constructions (such as new construction around the Coles Supermarket site), the Wetlands project, inaction on site reserved for bulky goods outlet, the oval & any other projects of interest to community members.

ISSUES

o Swimming Pool.

Update: The Gungahlin Leisure Centre Development will be located in the block between the new Gungahlin College & The Valley Avenue. Key features include 50m main pool, 25m secondary pool, linked with a range of other smaller water bodies usable for exercise programs, learn to swim & water play, a Gymnasium, fitness rooms, changerooms, a café & child care facilities.

It will be owned by the ACT Government with management put out to tender.

It is at present moving from pre-Development approval stage to a preliminary design phase. It is expected that a construction manager will be engaged by about June 2012 with work commencing by August 2012. Construction is expected to take 18 months with the facility planned to open in early 2014.

Note that the enclosed Oval on an adjacent block (westward) is currently out to tender so that construction should start much earlier.

GCC will arrange an update session on the acquatic centre developments in March 2012.

o Hospital (preferably full service) located in Gungahlin – (seek RDA ACT input regional focus as there are significant benefits for surrounding rural residents). Need a positive decision, commencement date & completion date. Status should not be dictated by other interests. The needs of Gungahlin residents should be prime!

o NBN Roll-out (regular updates on progress, communications plan & community involvement, updates from Telstra to resolve lack of broadband services, ramifications of sale of TransAct to iiNet). Initial cabling will connect 4800 homes in Ngunnawal & Amaroo by December 2012. Roll-out will continue to connect another 14,000 thereafter (2013 onwards). What service improvements (if any) can existing residents expect (from Telstra & others) in the meantime? Residents of Palmerston & Nicholls have been excluded from the initial roll-out program despite having sub-par services for many years.

o EPIC Park n Ride. Greater focus should be placed on establishing a user-friendly, functional Park n Ride facility at EPIC, supported by an upgraded public transport service, to encourage Gungahlin residents plus commuters using the Federal & Barton Highways to terminate their private vehicle journeys at EPIC thus reducing Northbourne Ave congestion & avoiding expensive parking fees in Civic.

Update: November 16, 2011 The Park and Ride facility in Mitchell is now open, joining 12 other facilities across Tuggeranong, Woden and Belconnen.

Work on the facility began in June 2011 & includes 100 parking spaces next to the Flemington Road bus stop. Buses will now run the route every five minutes during peak hours & every 15 minutes during off-peak hours.

Bike & Ride, & Park & Ride facilities were launched in Mawson on Athllon Drive in January 2010 providing 97 parking spaces & 18 secure bike lockers. It has been in high demand from the day it opened, often reaching capacity before 8.30 am on weekdays. In response, the ACT Government has expanded the capacity of the car park providing an additional 90 parking spaces.

Investigations are currently underway to construct more park & ride facilities within Gungahlin.

For more information about park and ride facilities visit www.transport.act.gov.au

Comment: What provisions have been made for the overflow parking for major EPIC events that previously utilised that site?

o Establish a full service Health Centre in Gungahlin.

o Find a solution to utilise Gold Creek Homestead for productive purposes & reverse the decline of a valuation community facility.

o Resolve the current Parking congestion problems at Burgmann College during peak school start & finish times.

o Resolve current issues caused by the lack of duplication on Gundaroo Drive due to steadily increasing traffic flows:

· Past Crace (between Barton Highway & Gungahlin drive). An emerging issue that will develop with increased population build up in Crace is the too rapid contraction of the two lane roundabout from Crace into a single lane (Northbound) of Gundaroo Drive.

· Gungahlin Drive to Mirrabei Drive (particularly when Valley Way extension is completed) – Bus stopping areas contribute to regular vehicle accidents due to single lane traffic. Increased by-pass traffic will exacerbate existing problems.

· Chicane at junction with Gungahlin Drive. Increased usage of Gungahlin shopping precinct results in large vehicle build-ups with South-bound traffic. Problems also arise with North-bound traffic (including vehicles turning from Gungahlin Drive) merging from two lanes to a single lane.

o Stagger scheduling of road works (GDE, Clarrie Hermes Drive, Horse Park Drive, William Slim Drive) so that traffic disruptions are minimised.

o Electoral boundaries need to be reconfigured to reflect needs of Gungahlin residents and rapid growth demanding separate representation. Electorate combination with areas of the Inner South is in total discordance with the interests of Gungahlin residents.

o Urgent need to create an Employment hub in Gungahlin – preferably by locating a Government Department in or close to the Town Centre. This will provide opportunities for Gungahlin residents for local employment reduce outwards traffic flows & increase inwards traffic flows which in turn benefit workers & residents travelling out of Gungahlin as it balances out waiting times at roundabouts & traffic lights where the situation currently favours inwards traffic on the Barton & Federal Highways. Local businesses will also benefit from an increased clientele & more small businesses are likely to be drawn to the area.

Update: 27/11/2011. The ACT Government (via the Economic Development Directorate) is undertaking a Registration of Interest process to obtain industry input on a proposed 7,000 m2 office building.

This office building, to be located on either government or privately owned land in Gungahlin, will accommodate approximately 500 ACT Government staff, provide requisite parking spaces and be built to contemporary environmental sustainability standards. Once constructed, the new office building will deliver significant economic and workforce benefits to the ACT Government and the Gungahlin community.

Organisations wishing to obtain a copy of the Registration of Interest document are asked to register their request, including their company name and key contact person to: governmentoffice@act.gov.au .

An industry briefing session on the process will be held over the coming weeks & details will be provided to registered respondents. The closing date for submissions is 15 December 2011.

o The Gungahlin Community wants vastly improved communication re upgrades (planning, progress & completion dates) & traffic impact measures in the area. If residents are aware of the type & purpose of establishment & upgrade work being done, plus being advised of likely completion dates, they should be more accommodating of any disruptions to their movements throughout the district & actually look forward to the outcomes.

o Provide definite dates commencement & completion of the Nurdur Drive extension to Gungahlin Drive.

o Reconsider the efficacy of Exits from Crace (only 2 – insufficient for projected population).

o Access to Lake shores (Yerrabi Pond, Gungahlin Pond etc) for recreational purposes.

o Parking associated with lakeshore/waterbody access throughout district.

o Paucity of parking at Phyllis Ashton Cct & Strayleaf Cres Gungahlin for patrons of commercial facilities.

o Traffic calming measures for eastbound vehicles on Gungahlin Drive approaching Amagula Ave & Lexcen Ave roundabout – alignment draws line-of-sight away from vehicles travelling west & turning into Amagula Ave. Also trees in centre of roundabout block views of approaching traffic.

o Negation of benefits of rapid transit route for public transport along Flemington Road by significant high-density infill.

o Drinking fountains in Library/College precinct.

o Majura Parkway Update: DETAILED DESIGN WORK BEGINS. November 16, 2011
The Australian & ACT Governments have announced that SMEC Australia has been selected to undertake & complete the detailed design work on the new Majura Parkway.

The Majura Parkway project was announced earlier this year and construction is expected to be underway towards the end of 2012.

The awarding of the $6.5 million contract is another significant milestone in the delivery of this long-awaited piece of infrastructure which will make it easier for Canberrans to get around their city as well as taking trucks off residential streets.

Governments at both the Federal & Territory level Are working together to put in place the modern, well-planned transport infrastructure befitting Canberra's status as the nation's capital.

The Majura Parkway will be an 11.5 kilometre long dual carriageway, with the Commonwealth & ACT governments each providing $144 million towards its construction.

The finalisation of the forward design consultancy will build on the preliminary work done as part of the initial Environment Impact Statement.

Once open to traffic in 2016, the Majura Parkway will be an important north-south transport link, providing a direct connection between the Federal & Monaro Highways.

By 2030, it is expected this new road will carry 40,000 vehicles a day, including up to 6,000 trucks, significantly improving the movement of freight both nationally & within the region.

Visit majuraparkway.act.gov.au for more information.

Ewan Brown President GCC.

HARRISON SCHOOL TWILIGHT FAIR

News - Community & business

Written by harrisonfair Tuesday, 01 November 2011 19:42

Harrison School will be running its annual school Fair on Saturday the 19th of November 3 pm to 7pm.

This year Harrison School is delighted to have the Gungahlin CWA run a CWA style baking competition, with categories for Adults and Children. There will be all the fun of the fair with Rides and Sideshow activities, Naval display, fantastic international food, market stalls, craft and cake stalls, live performances , face painting, princess pavilion, 2nd hand books, pre loved babies and children’s wear and our ever popular silent auction, with auction items including accommodation packages on the north coast.

This year’s Auction will be run by none other than the Auction Idol winner of 2011!!!

Harrison School is on Wimmera St, Harrison, just off Flemington Road.

For more information please call P:6205 9555 or find us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harrison-School-Community-Association/144943475566

NBN Update - Work to commence in Oct 2011

News - Community & business

Written by Dave Bockett Tuesday, 02 August 2011 20:29

The starting date for preliminary work on the Gungahlin second release site has been confirmed as October 2011.

NBN Co estimated that it will take 12 months from preliminary works to the activation of the first services for the sites.

July Chronicle Update

News - Community & business

Written by Alan Kerlin Monday, 11 July 2011 09:14

The big news this month of course is that NBN Co have signed their critical deal with Telstra, meaning the NBN roll-out in Gungahlin is now “all systems go”. We’ll see plenty of activity starting over the next few weeks, and hope to have NBN Co to our 10 August meeting for the latest news.

May 2011 Chronicle Article

News - Community & business

Written by Alan Kerlin Monday, 16 May 2011 14:44

The Gungahlin Community Council is moving its meetings into the town centre. Over the years people have regularly asked us to hold our meetings in a more central location. With the imminent opening of the new Gungahlin Library, we are now able to do this. The library has a range of meeting rooms, so this will be our new base, commencing from our 8 June meeting.

Don’t miss the open day for the new college, CIT and library on Saturday 21 May from 11am. It will be a big day for Gungahlin – the symbolic unveiling of the new heart of our town centre.

Electoral boundary redistributions are not something that fire up the emotions. We are asking Gungahlin residents to get involved in this one to help stop further splitting of Gungahlin suburbs into a second ACT electorate. Currently all of Gungahlin is in the Molonglo electorate except Nicholls, which is in Ginninderra. The ACT Electoral Commission is proposing that Palmerston and Crace are also carved off into Ginninderra. They’ve also failed to address the long-standing problem of the Molonglo electorate sprawling from almost Tuggeranong to the northern ACT border, leaving us in the north represented by MLAs some of whom we seldom ever see.

The legislation requires the Electoral Commission to “duly consider:

the community of interests within each proposed electorate, including economic, social and regional interests
the means of communication and travel within each proposed electorate
the physical features and area of each proposed electorate
the boundaries of existing electorates, and
the boundaries of divisions and sections fixed under the Districts Act 2002.”

Our argument is that for too long, they’ve paid attention to the last two of these points, to the exclusion of the first three points – to the detriment of good representation for the Gungahlin community.

GCC has proposed that all of Belconnen and Gungahlin are combined into one seven-member electorate. The electorates would then essentially be Ginninderra with seven members across the north, Molonglo with five members across the central areas, and Brindabella with five members covering the south and Weston Creek. This would also set the electorates up to cater for future growth with minimal further changes.

You can help us achieve this by lodging your support for the GCC proposal to the Electoral Commission by 2 June. A simple email is all that is needed, which you can send to elections@act.gov.au. More information on the process, including our full submission is at www.bit.ly/act2011election.

Open day at the new library - 21st May 2011

News - Community & business

Written by Dave Bockett Monday, 16 May 2011 14:42

The new Gungahlin Library will open its doors on Saturday 21 May 2011 and to celebrate, people are invited to come along to a community open day.

Gungaderra Homestead Open Day

News - Community & business

Written by Carolyn Bray Tuesday, 10 May 2011 10:41

Northside Community Service is delighted to announce the opening of the Gungaderra Homestead Community Centre.

Come along and meet a number of services and businesses that will be offering programs to the community:

-Northside Community Service

-Kung Fy by Wan Kam Lueng

-OzHelp Foundation

-Nutrition Australia

-Caz Fitness

-Heart Foundation

-Rockinghorse Music

-Latin Beats Fitness

-Conflict Resolution Service

-Gungahlin Child and Family Centre

-Gungahlin Regional Community Service

We aim to offer a wide range of activities at the Homestead for all ages. So come along and have you say about the activities you would like to see established at Gungaderra - Your Community Hub.

BBQ will be provided by the Gungahlin Lions Club with live entertainment and activities for the children!

When: Saturday 21st May

Time: 11am - 3pm

Where: Between Sapling and Mapleton, Harrison

For further information please contact Carolyn on 6163-0428 or carolyn.bray@northside.asn.au

GunSmoke Going Online & Update on Community Centre

News - Community & business

Written by Alan Kerlin Sunday, 20 March 2011 09:48

Over the past few months, we at the Gungahlin Community Council have been re-evaluating our activities. The committee has decided we need to spend less time on administration and more time on our core roles of community engagement and lobbying. To achieve this we are making some key changes.

GunSmoke going online

Producing our bi-monthly newsletter GunSmoke has become a major exercise for our volunteers. Every issue now costs around $8500 to produce and distribute. We are proud that, over 120 issues, our little publication has become well known and highly valued in the Gungahlin community. And we’ve been incredibly grateful for those businesses, community groups and other organisations that have been regular advertisers with us.

But we haven’t been getting enough advertisers to break even for some time now. This has been made harder by the Canberra Times (perhaps understandably) targeting our growing community by starting the Gungahlin News—which many people continue to think is produced by GCC! Although neither the Gungahlin News nor the Chronicle cover all of Gungahlin, we still lost key advertisers to them. When competing against paid Canberra Times advertising staff, it was unreasonable to expect our volunteers to work so hard pursuing new advertisers.

Without adequate support from Gungahlin businesses, we have to cease producing GunSmoke as a print newsletter distributed to every home and business.

The good news though is that we will continue producing GunSmoke regularly—maybe even more often if required—but as a predominantly online newsletter. It’s critical that we can get our complete and unedited messages on important Gungahlin issues out to our community. We’ll still get a limited print run for distribution through key locations like shopping centres. But for most people, GunSmoke will be digital from the next edition onwards. With this reduced print costing under $2000 per issue, we should be able to cover costs from our annual government grants.

So if you want to receive GunSmoke from now on, you’ll need subscribe.

Palmerston Community Centre

When GCC secured the management rights to the Palmerston Community Centre, it was to ensure there was some ‘competition’ between the few venues for hire in Gungahlin. But the new Library is about to open including several rooms for hire, the Forde Community Centre is open, and others are coming (but more are needed!). So the original premise for us managing a community centre is no longer valid. We subcontracted the day-to-day bookings of the centre to the Gungahlin Regional Community Service a little while back. But now we’ll be handing over the entire centre to GRCS. To all our regular hirers, we thank you for how you’ve worked with us through some difficult times with volunteer shortages, and for always looking after the centre.

These changes recognise the changing nature of the Gungahlin Community. What was appropriate with a smaller population in a greenfields area is less appropriate now with a population of 43,000.

They’ve been hard decisions for us. But we realised that these two tasks alone have involved an incredible amount of work for us, have been key contributors to volunteer burn-out, and have had a major impact on our ability to perform our key role.

Community drop-in info session - Amaroo Group Centre

News - Community & business

Written by Dave Bockett Monday, 07 March 2011 08:23

Community drop-in information session Amaroo

Group Centre - Block 2 section 106 Amaroo

The Land Development agency (LDA) invites the residents of amaroo and surrounds to attend a community drop-in information session regarding the proposed development of the Amaroo Group Centre, including a planned supermarket. The information session will provide the opportunity to learn about the project and ask questions about the proposal.

When: Tuesday 17 March 2011 (anytime between 3.00pm – 7.00pm)

Where: Amaroo school, Katherine avenue, Amaroo

For further information visit www.lda.act.gov.au or contact the LDA on 6205 060

Vice President's Feb 2011 Chronicle Article

News - Community & business

Written by Dave Bockett Wednesday, 09 February 2011 00:00

The next meeting of the Gungahlin Community Council will be on 9 February 2011. As usual, the meeting will be at 7.30pm at the Palmerston Community Centre, Tiptree Crescent, Palmerston. With so much happening in Gungahlin at the moment, it’s a great time to attend a GCC meeting or even get involved on a regular basis. GCC plays an important role as a conduit between our community and the ACT Government, and is being approached by a number of other organisations, such as the NBN Co that are contributing to development within Gungahlin.

With the move of Alan Kerlin from GCC President to GCC Spokesman for Planning, Transport and Environment, and a few recent departures, there are plenty of opportunities for new people to contribute to the various activities of the GCC; enthusiasm and basic email skills are all you need to get involved. Alan has left big shoes to fill, and I would like to acknowledge his significant (and ongoing) contribution to the Gungahlin community.

The Gungahlin Town Centre Territory Plan Variation issued in late 2010 (available from the ACTPLA website at tinyurl.com/4jzvjto) recommended a series of changes to the Territory Plan, which have been incorporated into Draft Variation 300. Comments on this important variation close on 28 February 2011, so if you have anything to contribute please contact ACTPLA or raise it with their staff at the GCC meeting.

A key element of the variation is rezoning of land to allow a major business park to be established within Gungahlin. This location is one of the preferred locations for a third hospital for the ACT, should the ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher decided to take that option. You can support our push for this hospital by sending a brief email to ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher at gallagher@parliament.act.gov.au. In addition, a representative from ACT Health has indicated they will be attending our February GCC meeting.

Another speaker at the February meeting will be talking about, and seeking feedback on, the environmental impact statement for the Throsby Playing Fields – a major new sports complex planned for opposite the northern end of Anthony Rolfe Avenue.

Since the presentation by NBN Co at our October meeting, a number of developments with the NBN project at a national level delayed progress on planning for Gungahlin as an NBN Stage 2 pilot site. We’ve spoken with NBN Co and will be able to provide an update on progress at the February meeting. Last weekend, I was chatting to a group of fellow Ngunnawal residents at our Christmas street party (held just after Christmas) and was surprised to hear that several of them could not get any form of wired broadband at all – so bring on the fibre!

As the new GCC Vice President I would like to thank everyone on the GCC executive for the warm welcome I received, and I look forward to seeing more new faces at future GCC meetings.

Presidents Chronicle Column - October 2010

News - Community & business

Written by Alan Kerlin Wednesday, 03 November 2010 09:50

Our next GCC meeting on 13 October is our first official meeting with NBN Co, as they kick off consultation on whose the lucky 3000 premises will be that get the pilot roll-out of NBN’s fibre internet network. And on that topic, some people have raised concerns about the cost to connect the network to the home itself.

Gungahlin Wilcats Gridiron Club

News - Community & business

Written by Conor Hickey Wednesday, 20 October 2010 22:38

The Gungahlin Wildcats Gridiron Club are a newly established American football club in the ACT.

The junior preseason is about to start and the Wildcats are looking to expand their player base from their successful 2010 season. If you are aged 14 to 17 years and are interested in playing gridiron, or know someone who may be interested, please come down to the AFL oval in Giralang on Tucana Street, Sunday 31st October at midday. There will be a few games of touch gridiron as well as information for prospective junior players and their families. Meet our experienced coaching staff, other players, and have some fun at the same time. Be sure to bring some footy boots, water and sunscreen.

We welcome all new additions to the club, whether you want to play gridiron yourself or are just a fan of the game. The Wildcats are a family orientated club and we hold many events throughout the year, from fundraiser barbeques to our highly anticipated annual trivia night.

For more information look us up on Facebook or visit our website at www.gungahlinwildcats.com.

Tour de Wetlands - Bike Ride Sun 17th Oct

News - Community & business

Written by Dave Bockett Thursday, 23 September 2010 11:42

Come join us on a community bike tour of the Gungahlin Wetlands. All welcome!

The tour begins at The Valley Ponds proposed site (behind the Scout Hall),The Valley Ave, past Yerrabi Ponds, to Mulligan’s Flat where we will be met by a Ranger for a talk & refreshments.

All riders must wear bike helmets. This is a free event but bookings are required. Please contact the

Community Engagement Officer

hilary.thomson@act.gov.au

or phone 02 6207 5849

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