news, act-politics

The Liberals have vowed to reverse the government's "City to the Lake" strategy, strip the Land Development Agency of much of its power, and prevent shipping containers from sitting idly in the front yards of Canberra properties. The opposition released its planning policy on Saturday, a collection of 29 commitments across a broad range of areas. The commitments, a number of which have already been made, include comprehensively reviewing the territory plan, scrapping the lease variation charge in town centres and the city centre, boosting the role of the government architect, and ensuring "meaningful consultation" before planning legislation is introduced. There are also measures to prevent dodgy building practices, including the creation of a searchable register of builders' past projects, the delivery of training programs for members of bodies corporate, and a requirement that planning officials visit completed buildings before issuing certificates of occupancy. One significant proposal included in the policy is to move away from the government's city to the lake strategy – a long-term project of urban renewal involving 70 hectares of prime land between Lake Burley Griffin and Civic. Deputy Opposition Leader Alistair Coe said the strategy would further erode the city centre, including Garema Place and City Walk. Mr Coe has previously flagged the Liberals' position on the issue , but expanded on his views to Fairfax Media on Thursday. He said he is not completely opposed to waterfront development, but thinks the city centre is under threat because it is being stretched by developments to its north, east and west. City to the lake, he said, would expand the city too far to the south. "When you have that kind of pressure, it's no wonder that City Walk and Garema Place, are often a ghost town," he said. He said the Liberals wanted to instead focus on revitalising the CBD, and were open to bringing cars back through City Walk and Garema Place. "We think it's worthwhile having a genuine consultation about that, there are tasteful ways of doing it," he said. An intention to rein in the Land Development Agency is also contained in the Liberals' policy. The Liberals said the LDA has become too powerful and is overstepping its role in a competitive market. Mr Coe said the dual aims of the agency made it conflicted, something he believes had worsened the housing affordability problem in the ACT. "They're supposed to be delivering affordable housing but they're also meant to deliver a high yield to government," Mr Coe said. "I think because of that we've just seen affordability just fade away," he said. "So I think the LDA does need to go back to being a strategic arm of government, rather than this linchpin involved in every government decision." The Liberals have also pledged to introduce time limits to stop shipping containers sitting idly in the front yards of properties. Mr Coe said he had not yet decided on a time limit, but expected it to be roughly a month. The Liberals also pledged to make land available in future estates and existing suburbs, where possible, specifically for faith and cultural organisations. Also on Thursday, the Liberals announced they would would give $6 million to upgrade local shops across Canberra. Mr Coe made the announcement on Friday at Kaleen shops in Canberra's north. He said the Liberals would spend the money on shops in "older suburbs", focusing on improving pavement, lighting, parking, and landscaping. Mr Coe said the neglect of local shops was hurting local business owners as well as "suburban amenity and pride". "Canberrans want to have pride in their local shops and upgrades are essential to making that happen," he said. He said the Liberals would seek "investment from owners of the private land at shopping centres".

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