West Belconnen's environmental impact up for discussion

The vision for the ACT’s first cross-border residential development is progressing with environmental impact plans released for the West Belconnen site.

The Riverview Projects development, which is expected to take place over the next 30 to 40 years, will eventually be home to about 30,000 people in 11,500 dwellings.

Members of the community will have the opportunity to comment on the environmental impact of the West Belconnen development next week.

Situated to the west of Holt and Macgregor, the project will comprise three suburbs in the ACT and a locality just across the border in NSW.

Riverview director David Maxwell said conservation has been an integral part of the planning process since the start of the cross-border project.

A 577-hectare conservation corridor along the Murrumbidgee River has been earmarked for the 1600-hectare project area.

“We nominated a line on the plan that showed the conservation corridor and the urban area and that hasn’t been changed to date,” Mr Maxwell said.

He said approval has already been granted by the ACT government, however the next phase of the process requires Commonwealth approval under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act.

Next week’s community consultations sessions are the culmination of 20 reports carried out by the developers.

Box gum woodland, the pink-tailed worm lizard and the golden sun moth have been identified as matters of national environmental significance that are of particular relevance to the project.

A draft assessment on the impact the development will have on these species was conducted by the Commonwealth government and Riverview Projects and an offset strategy has been proposed.

The strategy includes establishing an environmental management trust to govern the conservation corridor.

An independent peer review of the strategy was completed by the ANU associate professor Dr Phillip Gibbons.

Dr Gibbons commended the group’s decision to employ a trust and described the assessment’s methodology as “generally robust”.

However, he offered suggestions that would strengthen the strategy, including slight modifications to the boundary of the conservation corridor to mitigate the development’s impact on the pink-tailed worm lizard.

The program, assessment and peer review reports were published on the West Belconnen website.

The information sessions will be held at the West Belconnen project office at Kippax Fair on Thursday evening, from 5pm to 7pm, and Saturday morning from 10am to noon.

The consultation period closes on June 10.

Mr Maxwell said community consultation has been a key part of the project, which is why they established a permanent office in Holt.

“The feedback has generally been positive on the approach we’re taking,” Mr Maxwell said. “We’re working on any areas of concern to deliver a quality project.”

See talkwestbelconnen.com.au