Council invites the Weston Creek Community to the 27 April 2022 public meeting which will focus on the needs of local sports participants. The ACT Government will be represented by Mr David Jeffery, Senior Director, Sport and Recreation (Minister Berry was invited, but had another engagement). Mr Dave Reeson, President of Royals Volleyball Club will be discussing the Volleyball situation in Weston Creek and will be supported by representatives from the Table Tennis and Badminton Associations.
We also have local Federal MP for Bean, The Honorable David Smith MP attending to formally award a Volunteering Grant to a worthy local group.
We look forward to many members of the Weston Creek Community attending.
EVENT: APRIL PUBLIC MEETING.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, 27 APRIL 2022. TIME: 7:30 PM
LOCATION: WESTON CREEK COMMUNITY CENTRE off PARKINSON STREET
The meeting will be webcast live via our Facebook pages, and the video recording will remain available for viewing later, on these pages. We will try our hardest to have questions that we receive through the Facebook pages presented to the speakers. Please let us know your questions via email in advance (info@westoncreek.org.au) or through the comments field on the Facebook pages.
We request that people asking questions during the meeting use one of the available microphones to ensure people remotely viewing the meeting can understand the full context of discussions.
FURTHER MEETINGS OF NOTE
There are two further meetings being organised by Council in the coming weeks, being:
- Joint Bean Community Councils’ Federal Election Forum on 2 May 2022, from 7pm, at the Weston Creek Community Centre. All major parties are providing House and Senate Candidates. Independent candidates, David Pocock and Kim Rubenstein, have also accepted invitations. We will provide an update on this meeting by email and Facebook over the next week.
- The Village Building Company have offered to conduct a community information session, via Microsoft Teams, on 5 May 2022, from 6pm. The Village Senior Development Manager, Mr David Carey, and the project architects are wanting to demonstrate their project to the community and clarify any questions people may have. The Development Application should be available for formal comments about the same time.
For the May 2022 Public Meeting the concept plans for the Brierly St upgrade are expected to be available, and we have invited the Project Team to present. We are also hopeful Transport and City Services Minister Chris Steel will attend to discuss matters in his portfolio, including recent Active Travel initiatives.
CHAIR’S REPORT
Since our last newsletter, a lot has happened. We have noticed the community getting out a lot more and families with younger children (and leashed dogs) enjoying the recent good Easter weather in our parks.
The consultation on the revised Planning Laws continues. The Government is seeking input from the community via the Your Say facility. The documents can be accessed at https://www.planning.act.gov.au/planning-our-city/act-planning-system-review-and-reform.
Your Council encourages all residents to make their views known. Council is representing you at various meetings organised to discuss aspects of the proposed laws. Yes, the laws need to be simpler and easier to understand. But this does not mean good decision-making criteria should be abandoned or complex concepts buried in a morass of regulation, that is not citizen friendly. The over-arching objective should be to ease regulatory complexity while maintaining core protections of the Citizens’ right to have a reasonable say about the future of their neighbourhoods. While the Government is keen to have the new legislation operating from January 2023, a simple analysis of legislative timelines suggests this to be overly ambitious.
Village Building Company have lodged the Development Application for the former AFP site on Streeton Drive. As mentioned above, Council has arranged with Village for a further community information session. We again encourage concerned residents to also provide their own input – a submission can be a brief email or note pointing out how you feel about the proposed development. Council accepts that a development of the scale involved should attract commentary.
Council’s Chair and Treasurer in the last week participated in a pre-Budget forum chaired by the ACT Deputy Under Treasurer. This provided the opportunity for Council to (once again) discuss our priority issues, including the delivery of municipal services and “Fix my Street” short comings. Issues around crime rates, police presence and dangerous driving were again raised, as was the need for proper air quality monitoring.
Speaking of “Fix my Street”, Council continues to learn of more matters that remain unaddressed. We are in the process of preparing written correspondence for Government on the issues we hear about and also invite the community to make representations via the local MLAs or advise Council (or both). We note MLAs Mr Hanson and Dr Paterson have stated recently they accept such representations. This is the sort of “grass roots” advocacy you should expect from your Community Council!
The Woden Police Station has a new Officer-in-Charge who is keen to meet the local community. Representatives from Council’s Committee will be arranging to meet with him during June, with a view to organising regular dialogue with Council.
ACT Senator Zed Sesleja has recently announced that the intersection at the corner of Brierly St and Hindmarsh Dr will be upgraded with traffic lights, funded by the Blackspots Program. While Council has been advocating for improvements to this intersection for quite a while, we were not invited to participate in the consultation process.
The ACT Government has just released the draft Urban Forest Bill for consultation. We encourage you to review the documentation and provide your input at https://yoursayconversations.act.gov.au/urban-forest-bill. Council will be examining the documents and providing feedback as well. We welcome knowing your views.
I would also like to publicly thank Committee Member Mark Boast for stepping in at short notice and chairing the March 2022 Public Meeting.
CELEBRATING WORKING TOGETHER AND ACHIEVING.
The Weston Creek Community Council (WCCC) continues to be a forum for residents to meet, share ideas and to convey concerns to government. We are non-partisan, advocating for the best services and facilities for the people of Weston Creek.