Canberra Times Letters to the Editor 13 June 2017
Early Canberra planning seemed designed to protect the river system by keeping urban development well away from the Molonglo valley west of Scrivener Dam. Rampant population growth has now prompted the development of Wright and Coombes in this previously restricted area, with Denman Prospect to follow – right on top of the Molonglo River.
An ACT buffer zone and NSW land zoned for Environmental Management kept Belconnen away from the Murrumbidgee but that, too, is no longer sacred with urban development proposed to overlook the Murrumbidgee and Ginninderra gorges.
The Tuggeranong community is resisting pressure to build houses along the Murrumbidgee in that area.
Water-sensitive urban design is supposed to protect water quality but such infrastructure requires continual maintenance and the ACT Government is renowned for its unwillingness to provide adequate funding for maintenance of infrastructure in Canberra.
It much prefers to throw money at prominent projects such as City to the Lake, which will promote urban development on the lake foreshore of West Basin.
One wonders how long it will be before the ACT's extensive water catchment lands are compromised, with little bits being nibbled away under the justification of the need to provide accommodation for the hordes descending upon our fair city.
Robyn Coghlan, Hawker
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