Friends of Grasslands
supporting native grassy ecosystems
PO Box 987
Civic Square ACT 2608
Phone: 02 62.. ....
Shannon Savage
Communications & Community Consultant
Aecom
PO Box 1942
CANBERRA CITY ACT 2601
email: consultcanberra@aecom.com
Dear Ms Savage
Moncrieff Residential Housing Estate: Environmental Impact Statement Community Consultation
Further to our submission dated 22 October Friends of Grasslands (FOG) has an additional comment to make.
In regards to our concern expressed in our submission about lack of a strategy that marries development and conservation in North Gungahlin, FOG, together with representatives from the Conservation Council, Canberra Ornithologists Group and National Parks Association, were invited by the ACT’s Economic Development Directorate to attend a briefing on 25 October about the strategy and progress to date. FOG appreciates that it is now being included in the process, and that it will have opportunity for input into the process itself as well as commenting on the final draft.
As part of that briefing we learned that Moncrieff is not being included as part of that strategy because of the timing for planning of the suburb. However, we do believe that decisions on Moncrieff should be based on the same principles and processes used for the strategy, and that the issues we have raised in the submission dated 22 October remain pertinent.
We look forward to certainty in planning in North Gungahlin in future, where core conservation areas are identified and protected from development, and where effective offsets retain areas of ecological value and enhance these areas through guaranteed resourcing into the future.
Sincerely yours
John Fitz Gerald
President
26 October 2012