Canberra's arterial roads could be transformed into ''development corridors,'' lined with shops, cafes and apartment buildings up to eight storeys high, according to the ACT Government's planning vision.
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The vision for Canberra's next generation of high-density neighbourhoods has been revealed in the Government's Draft ACT Planning Strategy, which aims to set the city's direction for the next 50 years.
Suburbs along Athllon Drive and Yarra Glen in Canberra's south, Flemington Road in the north, and even the partly built John Gorton Drive in the west have been identified as the capital's future hot spots for apartment living.
The draft strategy, launched by Planning Minister Simon Corbell yesterday, calls for intense development of the existing town centres and arterial routes that link them.
It also predicts a dramatic increase in apartment and unit building in the familiar planning battlegrounds of the inner north and inner south.
The Government issued the document for consultation yesterday but one community group has already voiced unhappiness at the two-month scrutiny period for such a far-reaching document. According to the authors of the report, the corridors would mix retail and leisure activities and offer access to high-frequency travel public transport.
''As we reduce our reliance on the car, Canberra's avenues can be progressively transformed into beautiful streets that allow people to enjoy shops, outdoor dining, strolling or cycling,'' the authors of the report wrote.
Mr Corbell said that the push for higher density had the potential to reduce Canberra's reliance on private motor vehicles. ''By having higher housing density in or close to town and group centres, and along transport corridors, we will see a reduction in the community's reliance on cars,'' he said. ''This strategy also links closely to the Transport for Canberra policy, released earlier this month to increase patronage on public transport options as well as seeing an increase in the amount of people cycling and walking to and from work.''
The planning strategy identifies a long stretch of Athllon Drive, from the Tuggeranong town centre to Sulwood Drive, as a future development corridor where high-density building would be encouraged.
But the Tuggeranong Community Council is dismayed at the two-month consultation period for such far-reaching proposals.
Council president Darryl Johnston said he wanted to know why plans for such a major overhaul of Tuggeranong were being subjected to just two months of public scrutiny.
''If we're talking about a plan, a major strategy for the next 50 years, then I want to know, 'What's the big rush','' Mr Johnston said.
''Let's extend the consultation period at least until February so that people have got plenty of time to digest this and to come back with fully thought through suggestions.''
The Property Council of Australia broadly welcomed the new strategy yesterday but the council's executive director, Catherine Carter, warned that the Government would find it difficult to switch the development focus from greenfield to infill.
''There will be several major challenges for the ACT Government in achieving these outcomes, and these relate to the over-reliance by Government in revenue from land sales in greenfield areas, and a range of taxes, fees and charges which act as major barriers to the development of inner locations,'' she said. ''There is an inherent disconnect between revenue and planning in the ACT.''