This not inconsiderable number of Canberrans, whose ranks include former senior administrators, community leaders and heritage and planning experts, fear for the future of Walter and Marion's original vision for the bush capital.

They argue the ACT government is throwing the baby out with the bath water by repeatedly choosing to put development and the revenue it brings ahead of good planning and heritage outcomes.

While, as is always the case, there are two sides to this argument; this is a debate Canberra needs to have.

If, as has been repeatedly claimed, we are on the wrong track and at risk of undermining many of the features that make the city state such a great place to live, the sooner we pause and reassess the better.

A succession of issues, including the Kingston foreshore development, City to the Lake, the Manuka Oval debacle, the urban densification associated with the light rail project and the proposed infill of a part of West Basin to facilitate apartment block construction, have all put the Barr government in the firing line.

The latest canary in the coalmine is a plan by the owners to knock over the existing, single story, Curtin Square shops and replace them with a six-storey building locals have described as "a monolithic chunk" and incorporating 50 flats.

While the application has yet to be determined – submissions close on January 31 – objectors fear if past experience in areas such as Jamison is any guide then a less than optimum outcome is looming.

They make the point that while the area's master plan has yet to be finalised, the draft plan stipulates a two-storey height limit for buildings fronting the square and four storeys for buildings set back from the square at the southern end.

Growing public concern over these issues is timely given the recently installed chair of the ACT Parliament's planning committee, Greens MLA, Caroline Le Couteur, has flagged an inquiry into the Territory Plan this year.

Despite the fact the Greens have been largely supportive of the Barr government's planning agenda in recent years, with Ms Le Couteur telling the Lake Burley Griffin Guardians ahead of the election "ACT Greens support infill rather than urban sprawl", any inquiry is an open-ended process.

If and when any probe into the Territory Plan is commissioned the government will need to be ready for a well-targeted critique of its recent actions from the real stakeholders; the people who live in, and love, this city.

While there is much to commend in the desire by Labor and the Greens to increase housing density to reduce emissions, lower transport costs and achieve affordable housing, such goals cannot be at the price of community amenity.

Surely nobody is suggesting we have to destroy Canberra in order to save it.