Friends of Grasslands

supporting native grassy ecosystems

PO Box 440
Jamison Centre
Macquarie ACT 2614

email: advocacy@fog.org.au
web: www.fog.org.au

ACEPDcustomerservices@act.gov.au 

RE: AMENDMENT TO DA202138722-S144F - PROPOSAL FOR PUBLIC WORKS

Friends of Grasslands (FOG) is a community group dedicated to the conservation of natural temperate grassy ecosystems in south-eastern Australia. FOG advocates, educates and advises on matters to do with the conservation of native grassy ecosystems, and carries out surveys and other on-ground work. FOG is based in Canberra and its members include professional scientists, landowners, land managers and interested members of the public.

FOG appreciates that there has already been extensive stakeholder consultation in relation to this development, including but not limited to the original development application, two subsequent amendments, the EPBC referral, and the draft EIS. As such, this is FOG’s fifth submission on this matter, with the below comments reflecting our consistent position on this issue.

FOG has consistently supported the creation of an offset plan to relevant to this development. Previously, we have requested for the timely publication of this plan. As of the 4th of July 2024, it was not available as an attachment to the EIS. We found it attached at a later date, by which time comprehensive review of the document was not possible. We urge future developments of this scale to publish key documents, like offset strategies, with enough time to allow the public to adequately examine them. We also urge that key documents are appropriately labelled to enable accurate consideration of issues of concern.

While FOG’s examination of the offset plan has been limited, there re two key issues we would like to note.

1. In the reply to EPSDD’s request for further information by SMEC (Document S144STATE-202138722-S144E-01.pdf), SMEC addresses items 6,7 and 8 (all Conservator of Flora and Fauna concerns) by stating:

"The Development Application for this project was lodged in 2020. The Key Threatening Process ‘Removal of Mature Native Trees’ came into effect in August 2023. A Development Application is a ‘point in time’ application and can only be assessed under the legislative provisions that are relevant at the time of lodgement. This application is being considered under the Planning and Development Act 2007. As such the introduction of more recent legislative changes do not form a relevant statutory consideration..."

It is FOG’s understanding that the Conservation Advice for the Key Threatening Process ‘Removal of Mature Native Trees’ came into effect on the 21st of September 2018 and was published on the Nature Conservation Key Threatening Processes List on the 9th of December 2019. Instead, it was the Action Plan for the Key Threatening Process ‘Removal of Mature Native Trees’ that came into effect in August 2023.

Given the above timeline, FOG believes that the Key Threatening Process ‘Removal of Mature Native Trees’ would have been a relevant legislative provision for the developer to consider. We would hope such an incorrect assumption has not influenced the decision to remove mature native trees and hollow-bearing trees within the development area, and that the offset plan appropriately accounts for any unavoidable loss of these trees.

2. FOG also has another concern about the removal of mature native trees. The Environmental Impact Statement Assessment Report issued by Territory Planning Authority in June 2024, and put into legislation as Notifiable Instrument NI2024-363, includes Table 31: Draft Conditions of Development Approval. Condition No 8 requires that the "Tree Management Plan .... be provided as part of the DA". FOG expects that the public should have access to this document in order to allow for community to comment on which species are to be removed and what the corresponding trunk/canopy sizes are, not just the summary information that seven of them are hollow bearing, information that seems evident only in comment 6 by the Conservator in the S144STATE.... document referenced above.

To conclude on the issues of mature trees, we note that DA202342246 on Drake Brockman Drive is concurrently open for assessment.  It is concerning to us that these intersecting road-upgrade projects significantly reduce mature-tree habitat along the transport route between the suburbs of Holt and Whitlam and suggest that needs to be considered for this amendment proposal.

Yours sincerely

 

Professor Jamie Pittock

President, Friends of Grasslands

5 August 2024