The ACT Chamber of Commerce and a planning industry group are backing ACT Liberal Senator Zed Seselja's call to develop Tuggeranong west of the Murrumbidgee River.
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Senator Seselja sparked a debate over urban sprawl when he said Tuggeranong's town centre had suffered since a decision before self-government not to continue developing proposed suburbs to the north of Tharwa.
''That has skewed the geography of the town centre - the town centre is not in the centre of the town, it's on the western edge,'' Senator Seselja said.
Planning Institute of Australia ACT chapter president Vivian Straw said his personal view was that changing a plan half-way through implementation was unwise. ''The decision was made to put the town centre in the middle of Tuggeranong and then halfway through the delivery they cut half of it off,'' Mr Straw said.
''The town centre is basically dying, there is no commerce, no growth there for it.''
ACT Land Development Agency's immediate priority is new residential developments at South Quay on the Lake Tuggeranong foreshore and redevelopment of the Urambi school site.
''The town centre won't revive just on South Quay, it's just not enough. The town centre was built too big for its current catchment,'' Mr Straw said. ''A large number of people in the north of Tuggeranong go to Woden, or work in the city and stop in Woden on the way home. So there is only a small proportion of Tuggeranong catchment that use the Tuggeranong shopping centre.''
Chamber of Commerce president Andrew Blythe said Tuggeranong deserved more attention, after the north side had received much attention.
''There's a lot of conversation about the future of the ACT and particularly what the coming federal budget holds for the whole of the ACT economy,'' he said.
''I think we should be having that broader conversation of what the ACT would look like into the future. I don't think we should immediately rule out what Senator Seselja has put on the table.''
Tuggeranong Community Council spokeswoman and chairwoman of the Southern ACT Catchment Group Glenys Patulny said she had personal concerns about impacts on the Murrumbidgee River catchment.
The council had not yet discussed Senator Seselja's suggestion, Ms Patulny said.