12 April 2013

Simon calls in the Thynne Street development in Bruce

| johnboy
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Further making us wonder what the point of the development approval system is Simon Corbell has announced another call in. (Which is a nice way to say he’s over riding the process).

Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Simon Corbell, has today announced that he has called in and approved a $15 million office development for Thynne Street in Bruce in response to requests from adjacent residents and the development proponent.

“I have decided to approve the development of a four-storey office building in Thynne Street, Bruce as it will ensure the presence of over 300 employees in the Bruce precinct, based at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW),” Mr Corbell said.

“I have received representations on behalf of a large number of local residents in the precinct who have indicated their strong support for the project and for the maintenance of a healthy level of commercial office activity in this important mixed use neighbourhood.

“I have accepted the residents’ arguments that this development would result in a good balance of commercial and residential use in the area, and will help achieve an object of the Territory Plan by maintaining substantial employment in this precinct, as well as addressing parking and traffic concerns.

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HiddenDragon10:39 am 13 Apr 13

The more they use the call-in power, the more they proclaim the shortcomings of the current iteration of their planning system. I don’t think this jurisdiction (under the current, or previous governments) is alone in having such an arrangement to over-ride what usually applies, but it surely just adds to public cynicism about how government treats the well-connected and the influential, compared to how it treats the rest.

And Katie Gallagher said on radio yesterday that there is “no limit” to the number of call-ins that can be applied – she intends to have them used whenever Canberra’s developers feel like insisting, which is of course always and for every little travesty of a badly designed apartment block. So yes, under Shane Rattenbury (who you would think would have something to say about unfettered development) and this government there is no longer a system that scrutinises development applications.

I live across the road and we certainly don’t support this project mainly due to the increase in traffic along Thynne Street. Does this mean that the units will also still go ahead as I don’t understand that part?

Interesting to see the project was approved today when the fences were erected over a week ago.

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