News - Community & business

The Canberra Times (Suburbs worse off after road cancelled, 5/8/2010) incorrectly stated that the proposed Monash Drive road route around the base of Mount Ainslie has been scrubbed.

The reality is that that the ACT Government has requested the National Capital Authority remove it from their plans. The NCA has agreed only to investigate and consult on the proposal, but has not agreed to any cancellation at this stage.

Gungahlin Community Council has serious concerns that if ACT Governments of whatever guise continue to fail to deliver fast, segregated, efficient and commuter-attractive public transport for our residents, then Monash Drive will prove absolutely essential.

If we continue to plan for cars with one person in each, then morning gridlocks will surely follow. The alternative road routes into the city are simply not there. It's misguided for people to hang their hopes on the Majura Road upgrade - while needed, it's a far longer route, and will be avoided by many people destined for Civic, Russell and further south.

In a car city, the only alternatives to building Monash Drive are four-laning Majura Avenue into Limestone, bulldozing the trees down Northbourne, or ever-worsening rat-running through the northern suburbs - none of them attractive solutions and all having serious impacts on residents of North Canberra suburbs.

The NCA will be attending our meeting on 11 August to discuss Monash Drive, and GCC will continue to oppose the road's removal from plans until an ACT Government delivers on effective public transport.

Also at the meeting will be David Dawes and other staff from the new ACT Land and Property Services Department. They will explain how their supermarket policy affects the shopping centre sites at Amaroo and Franklin, and the program for accelerated release of new residential land over the next few years.

We'll also use the meeting to further our concerns about the proposed pokie club land sale for the Gungahlin town centre, selection of an appropriate site for the mosque, bringing forward release of more commercial and retail land in the town centre, plus the urgent need for more community centre facilities in new areas such as Franklin.