Predicting a compromise position could be reached over protections for parts of the 1950s and 1960s Northbourne Avenue public housing precinct, Mr Barr said the government was still considering its next move.

Planning Minister Mick Gentleman named Mr Flannery to the three-year appointment on Monday, after former chair Duncan Marshall completed his term.

A vocal advocate of the $800 million city to Gungahlin project, Mr Flannery's research centres of urban transformation caused by transport projects.

He is a practising architect and researcher at the Canberra Urban and Regional Futures – a joint venture between the University of Canberra and Australian National University, part funded by the ACT Environment and Sustainability directorate.

Last month Mr Barr was angered by a council decision to issue a heritage order protecting about 40 per cent of the Northbourne Avenue public housing precinct, planned for demolition to make way for development associated with the light rail project

The run-down public housing towers, flats and pair-houses are likely to be the subject of an ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal appeal by the ACT National Trust branch.

"I don't think [the appointment] will make a great deal of difference in the context of the light rail project," Mr Barr said.

"The issues, as they relate to Northbourne Avenue, will be dealt with. That process goes back to the previous council and the council is not going to dramatically change its view so the government will look at other ways forward in relation to progressing both the renewal of public housing but also the upgrade of the Northbourne corridor."

Mr Barr said a "balanced and measured" response was needed to the heritage protection order.

"I have never suggested that everything will be bulldozed but equally it is just absurd to think that everything will be protected so we will find a middle ground. We thought we had one, but the goal posts were shifted on us."

Capital Metro Minister Simon Corbell said Mr Flannery was a respected architect and someone "with extensive experience in heritage management issues".

"The bottom line is he has statutory obligations as the chair of the Heritage Council and he has extensive experience that qualifies him for that role as an architect and particularly an architect with extensive experience of managing heritage issues."

Mr Flannery told ABC radio his support for light rail was well known in the community and that light rail and the historic plan for Canberra designed by Walter Burley Griffin were closely linked.

He said there would be no conflict with his role as chairman of the council and predicted a "midway path" could be reached on Northbourne Avenue.

"Advocacy is probably not the word that I would use," Mr Flannery said. "I'd like to use the word leadership."

Mr Flannery said the redevelopment of Acton and parts of Kingston proved that Canberra's heritage could be incorporated into contemporary developments.

This week Dianne Firth was reappointed as deputy chairman of the council along with new appointees Phil Nizette and Gary Shipp.