News - Territory Services

The ACT government conducted a community workshop to garner ideas for the new library that is to be developed as part of the college precinct in the Gungahlin town centre.

During the preliminaries, the planning consultant presented some startling statistics on the make-up of the Gungahlin population from the 2006 Census:

• Gungahlin had 31,656 people in 11,100 households.
• The average household income was $91,860 - 7.9% greater than the ACT average.
• 89% of people were aged less than 54 years against and ACT average of 79%.
• 43% were couples with children, against 34% for ACT.
• 71% were in separate houses, 26% in semi-detached homes (townhouses), and just 3% in units.

Clearly there is a very large proportion of dual-income households making up that high average income. This is all the more poignant when you consider the shortages in available childcare places and local employment.

On the library consultation, there were a lot of great ideas put forward by the residents present: literacy training, cultural exchange opportunities, book clubs, community meeting spaces (something of which Gungahlin suffers a critical shortage), and an on-site cafe.

Ideas I floated included:

• Running a local bus to take elderly and people with disability to the library, rather than just having mobile library services, so these people could enjoy the whole library experience.
• Restoring extended weekend access, including Sundays (given the prevalence of dual-income families).
• Providing tertiary study resources and texts for students studying externally through other universities.

As far as we are aware, no funding has been allocated for construction of the new library beyond master planning - hopefully we'll see something in the upcoming budget.

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