A bid to have parts of the suburb of Turner heritage listed has again failed, after a residents group lost their legal battle against the ACT Heritage Council.
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The Turner Residents Association had fought to have sections of Turner, north of Haig Park, added to the ACT Heritage Register, claiming the area has historic design values.
The area the group want listed as a heritage site is bordered by Bent Street, and parts of Greenway, Macleay, and Condamine Streets.
The association claimed its heritage value was derived from its garden city planning principles, and association with Lindsay Pryor, an Australian botanist who played a significant role in the landscape design of Canberra, and Trevor Gibson, a former chief planner of the city.
The nomination was accepted by the Heritage Council, but it was later found to not meet the criteria for a provisional heritage listing as set out in the territory's heritage laws.
The Turner Residents Association appealed the council's decision in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal in August last year.
The tribunal was asked to stand in the shoes of the decision-maker and see whether it would have done the same.
If it wasn't convinced that the area had heritage value, then it would confirm the council's rejection of the nomination, but otherwise, it would set it aside, and heritage list the Turner precinct.
The tribunal did not dispute that garden city design was a distinct form of design, and agreed it was present in the nominated area of Turner.
But the crucial issue, the tribunal said, was whether the area was "important evidence" or a "notable example" of such a design.
The tribunal found the precinct did not meet that threshold, either as an intact design or through its expression in built form.
It also found the site was not a notable example of a place illustrating the garden city design in Canberra.
"The Applicants [Turner Residents Association] will understandably be disappointed with this decision," the tribunal's judgment read.
"They have invested a significant amount of time and energy into pursuing their nomination."
"The Tribunal reiterates that the threshold to be met is not low. The threshold has not been met here."
