Our next Public meeting will be held on Wednesday 24th of November at the Weston Club at 7.30 pm. At this time we are still trying to obtain a replacement Speaker for the Meeting and are hoping to have one of the other Community Councils Chair come along and talk about the issues they face.
Our Community Councils are holding a combined Councils Meeting on the 20th of November. This is a wonderful opportunity for Council members to discuss a range of issues that are important to the Canberra Region Community. These include transport, community consultation, planning issues and what the new legislation on reduction of carbon emissions means for all of us.
Locally we look on as the developments in both North Weston and Molonglo move forward while planning issues continue to be centre stage in the Press and on the radio over the past month and really for the year as residents try to come to grips with the changes that are being made to Canberra by Government with the call for a denser city through the application of the “Spatial Plan”.
The “Spatial Plan” states in part that it will achieve a more sustainable urban form by providing opportunities for higher density residential development in central locations and that residential intensification will be within 7.5 km of Civic over the next 15 years. The OECD meanwhile notes that a sustainable city was one that strengthened social cohesion and sustained quality, diversity and the character of place. The differing interpretation of these two statements by both Government and the community has caused, and continues to cause a great deal of anxiety to the community as they see quality, diversity and character of place being diminished by the decisions being taken this year.
Last month we were fortunate to have representatives of the Chief Minister’s Department to speak about “Time to Talk – Canberra 2030” and “a Framework for an Australian Capital Territory Clean Economy Strategy: Economic, Environmental and Social Perspectives — which provides the basis for a conversation on a clean economy strategy”.
Our hard working Friends of the CIT Garden held another working bee on Sunday 7 November. If you are interested in joining in, the working bees are held on the last Sunday of the month from 10 am to 1 pm.
To keep up to date with all issues affecting Weston Creek please monitor the Weston Creek Community Council’s website at www.wccc.com.au .
I look forward to seeing you at the next Public meeting.