Many matters of importance to local residents in the inner south are the responsibility of the national authorities, rather than Territory Government. With this in mind the Inner South Canberra Community Council will be seeking to engage actively with the ACT’s Federal political candidates in the lead up to the imminent Federal election.
The future planning role of the National Capital Authority, availability of land for embassies and parking pressures in the parliamentary zone, are just some of the issues which we have been engaging with our Federal representatives in recent times and which will continue to occupy our time.
One issue on which we will be seeking assurances is the proposed heritage listing of Canberra. Despite the assessment process being announced with much fanfare a couple of years ago, and a hoped for heritage listing in early 2013, nothing has so far been announced.
The heritage values being considered by the Australian Heritage Council relate directly to the inner south as they include the appeal of early surviving street patterns and garden suburbs and the effect of Canberra’s century-old centralised planning controls.
A decision will now likely be held over until after the election and we will be pressing the new government, of whatever political persuasion, of the merits of this listing. The listing would only include places in public ownership but would nevertheless help preserve some of the best things we like about our neighbourhoods.
The proposed heritage listing was just one of the issues discussed at our ISCCC meeting held on Thursday 18 July. Our Federal Member Gai Brodtmann MP spoke to us about a range of Federal issues and the ACT Government provided us with a comprehensive briefing on the next stage of work aimed at enhancing Manuka Oval.
Best regards
Gary Kent
President