Friday 22 March 2024
MEDIA RELEASE
Property Council ACT and Capital Region Executive Director reacts to Minister’s comments on halting urban sprawl
Released on Thursday by ACT Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti, the newest State of the Environment report is understood to recommend legislating a boundary to contain Canberra’s urban expansion.
Before the release of the report, Chief Minister Andrew Barr last week commented that our “approach to meeting… housing supply needs to be multifaceted. It can’t just be all infill, nor can it just be new suburbs.”
The Property Council supports these comments from Minister Barr.
This morning, Property Council ACT and Capital Regional Executive Director Shane Martin confirmed: “The housing supply that is needed to meet our growing population growth will come from building new suburbs as well as urban infill.
“There is no question we will need to look at how to encourage large residential development in order to build the housing supply at 70/30 split between infill and greenfield.”
The Property Council believes this will require:
- Strategic and faster land release
- Going further on RZ1 Reform
- Establishing minimum land allocation for retirement communities in greenfield developments
- Fast-tracking the planning process for strategic residential projects
- Encouraging investment into the ACT – not deterring it
- Considering ways that dual occupancies could have the same exemptions as single dwellings to speed up their development.
“If we want to encourage more infill, we must get the settings right and not put further roadblocks in the way,” said Mr Martin.
ENDS
Kirsty Sier | 0435 075 085 | [email protected]
Shane Martin | 0420 286 087 | [email protected]