Earlier this year the ACT government announced that it was proposing to build a new suburb to the west of the Tuggerenong Town Centre. This suburb, already magically named Thompson, is apparently designed to enliven the local shopping precinct. Unfortunately, all the very rough plans for the location of the suburb indicate that it will be built in part over a section of the route of the Bicentennial National Trail. The BNT is marked on Google maps and you can see that it travels through the grazing land and reserves along the Murrumbidgee River corridor behind the back of Greenway and Bonython.
While there appears to be a plan to include a nature reserve between the actual river and the suburb the available maps have contours that suggest the area will be too steep to accommodate a horse trail. Activities such as horse riding are not allowed in the gazetted Murrumbidgee River Corridor itself and it would be disastrous if this was the only green space left after construction of the suburb. It would also be embarrassing to be the city that cut the Bicentennial National Trail after 28 years!
If you ride on the southern section of the BNT in Canberra there is an opportunity to have your say at http://haveyoursay.planning.act.gov.au/tuggeranongs-next-generation-subur (this is a correct link even if it doesn’t look like it). There is a link at the very bottom of the page to a discussion forum, the majority of which seems to be pretty anti the loss of natural environment and construction of yet another suburb. At the top right hand corner there is a link to a map with the land contours along the river corridor.
Be part of the discussion. Have your say. There is no closing date for this discussion thread.
Update
A Community Feedback Report has now been posted on-line at https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-australia/6e3e8e048738c0b9405b7a5754363dd120016a7d/documents/attachments/000/036/876/original/Greenway_community_feedback_FINAL.pdf?1464586188
As of 31 May there were 308 comments on the discussion thread – most of them very anti any development. In addition there has been written submissions, a massive Facebook campaign and consultation with community groups – non of them equestrian. Only 12% of respondents supported the project as presented. Even the government’s own Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment is reported as expressing concern that the public has been asked to comment without the benefit of environmental studies. Undaunted the government is now ‘establishing a community panel, inviting the community to be part of workshops and running on-line polls’.
The ACT Equestrian Association will be contacting the government about impacts on the Bicentennial National Trail.
