Cocks calls for booming Molonglo to have a town centre

Liberal MLA Ed Cocks: decade worth of missed opportunities and broken promises for the Molonglo Valley. Photo: Michelle Kroll.

The Canberra Liberals are supporting the upscaling of the Molonglo Valley’s planned commercial centre to town centre status due to the latest population estimates, which show that the area is growing faster than expected.

A group centre is currently planned for the Valley but Murrumbidgee MLA Ed Cocks says the area will need a bigger centre than that now that it will become home to far more people than previously planned.

ACT Treasury now has the Molonglo Valley reaching a total population of 86,148 by June 2060, 31,000 more than the figure in the District Strategy and 26,000 more than the 60,000 originally intended to be the Valley’s final population.

Mr Cocks’ call follows that of the Molonglo Valley Community Forum, which made the case for the planning change in its submission on the planning system reforms.

“A Molonglo Valley that is home to 86,000 people will substantially increase the required provision of accommodation, shops, transport links and key amenities such as schools, recreational facilities and urban open space,” the submission said.

“Failure to adequately plan for these basic community needs at this early stage will have dire consequences for the future liveability of the district.

The first step to deal with this growth should be to give Molonglo a town centre that could also provide local jobs and recreation opportunities, and make the necessary change in the new Territory Plan, the submission said.

Mr Cocks said that in a decade more people will live in Molonglo than in the Woden Valley, and by 2040, Molonglo will be bigger than Woden and Weston Creek combined.

“Currently, the Molonglo Valley, like Weston Creek, relies on the Woden Town Centre,” he said.

“The increase in the size of the Molonglo Valley population will exacerbate the existing problems with Cooleman Court, and road access to and from Molonglo suburbs.”

Mr Cocks said a group centre, which has significant restrictions on shops and facilities compared with a proper town centre, would not be big enough to provide the services and facilities needed to serve a community of that size.

“A Molonglo town centre would attract greater investment, attract the larger scale stores that we all want to see and can give us the entertainment and recreational options people in Molonglo deserve,” Mr Cocks said.

“Woden is too far away for many Molonglo residents and Cooleman Court is already overloaded. I want to see a Molonglo town centre that means you don’t have to get into your car and drive somewhere else to get the things that you need.”

Mr Cocks said it had been a decade’s worth of missed opportunities and broken promises for the Molonglo Valley.

“The Labor-Greens Government has a track record of failing to provide the facilities and services the community requires,” he said.

“The bridge project is considerably behind schedule, we still don’t have a police station in the Molonglo Valley, and the government hasn’t finalised a location for the fire station.”