The ACT Greens have today called for Molonglo to be a genuine model of sustainability with low water and energy use, and clever design innovations that will make it an easy and pleasant place for Canberrans to live.

The Greens Parliamentary team today launched a discussion paper on the planned Molonglo urban district for the Canberra community to debate and provide feedback

“The Molonglo development will become home to 55,000 Canberrans.  We need to take on new design and planning innovations to build an urban village for the 21st century that is low on water and energy use,” Greens Parliamentary Convenor, Meredith Hunter, said today.

“This is an important development that requires a whole of Government commitment to make sure we get the best outcomes for the Canberra community.

“But most importantly, we would like to bring the people of Canberra and their interests, knowledge and expertise into the discussion.”

The paper outlines 11 design and planning issues that address high sustainability, including water and energy use, transport options, design that promotes healthy communities and ongoing protection of our natural areas.

“It is time for us to move towards building zero emissions neighbourhoods,” Greens Environment spokesperson, Shane Rattenbury said.

“We must face up to being the largest inland city on the driest continent on earth.  Water sensitive design and non-potable water use is the only way to sustainably support this growth in the region’s population.”

“Protecting the biodiversity of the Molonglo river corridor is a priority and something we know that future residents will value. A chain of ponds is a far better option than building a dam,” Mr Rattenbury said.

“It’s often said that Canberra is a ‘car city’.  Building Molonglo from scratch gives us a chance to have fast and frequent public transport, on dedicated routes that will provide a very attractive alternative to the private vehicle,” Greens Transport spokesperson Amanda Bresnan said.

“Let’s not make the mistake of trying to add public transport only when demand grows.  It needs to be there from the very beginning to nurture a culture of public transport use.”

Greens Planning spokesperson, Caroline Le Couteur, said that Molonglo could become Canberra’s most truly affordable area.

“Our vision for Molonglo is for a place where housing is well designed so that heating and cooling costs are low, there is local employment, people live close to schools and shops, and there are good bus and bike transport links to the rest of Canberra.

“Molonglo should cost less to live in because it is well designed and these savings will help housing affordability.  In turn, savings in resource use mean that Molonglo will has less environmental impact.

“The Molonglo development has the potential to be a turning point for the ACT and Australia as we design and plan for a world where we need to account carefully for our energy and water use.

“This discussion paper presents ideas to the people of Canberra about an affordable and sustainable way to build and live that we can be proud of,” Ms Le Couteur said.

The Greens will consult on the discussion paper over the next two months, holding a public forum at the Assembly and engaging with community organisations and other stakeholders.

Please click here to view the discussion paper

Submissions will be received until 9/04/10 – send to: LeCouteur@parliament.act.gov.au

Tags: development, energy, housing, molonglo, planning, transport, water

This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 11:58 am and is filed under MLAs, Molonglo, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.