Written by Alan Kerlin Wednesday, 10 February 2010 11:11
We at the Gungahlin Community Council are quite simply amazed at the contempt being shown by Planning Minister Andrew Barr towards local residents seeking to have a planned road extension moved away from their homes.
The extension of Well Station Drive to Horse Park Drive will put a four-lane road carrying some 20,000 cars a day just 20 metres from their quiet residential back street.
Andrew Barr also intends defying a direction by the ACT Legislative Assembly to realign the road, with his office saying "we have no sense of any political will to pursue this issue".
The residents are understandably upset at the implication that only 'squeaky wheels' warrant Andrew Barr's attention. GCC has asked repeatedly for substantiation of costs quoted to us by the Minister's office that this minor deviation would almost double the cost of the entire project.
With the return to school, a brand new school already bulging at the seams is clear evidence of a lack of planning by the ACT Education Department. Although only two years old, the Harrison School already has demountables installed to cope with an influx of new students. Plus Years 5 and 6 will be using the library as their classroom for months.
Surely when the Chief Minister's Department ramped up release of new blocks of land for sale two years ago, the Education Department was also revising their population projections and school needs? It seems that the departments don't talk to each other, and the Education Department planners don't read newspapers either…
The solution is simple-use the existing community zoned land in Franklin to build a Preschool to Year 4 school plus co-located Early Learning Centre-and do it quickly.
GCC is getting complaints about the regular piles of dumped rubbish around the charity bins in the Gungahlin town centre. Much of what is being left is unsaleable rubbish and it is costing the charities a bomb to keep cleaning it up. Some people are saying the bins should be removed, and we are inclined to agree. What do you think?
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