Ongoing briefings and discussions have been held with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and Yass Valley Council. Community information sessions Community information and feedback sessions were held at the West Belconnen Project office Shop 2, Kippax Fair, Holt. These sessions were advertised in the public notifications and were held on: Thursday 19 May from 5.00pm-7.00pm Saturday 21 May from 10.00am-12.00pm Members of the project team including the planner and biodiversity consultant were present and provided members of the public with an overview of the project, the potential impacts and the proposed offsets. Approximately 20 people attended the session over the two days. People where particularly interested in the Ginninderra Falls and Gorges area, the Conservation Corridor and the route of the proposed Ginninderra Drive alignment. There was also lots of support expressed for the proposed Environmental Trust. The posters used for the community information sessions are at appendix E. Submissions A number of public submissions were received during the public notification period. As outlined in section 2, a copy of the draft Strategic Assessment Report and the draft Program Report were made available during this period. Public submissions have not been attached to this report; however a summary of the comments received has been compiled and responded to in Table 3.2. In total 19 submissions were received during the extended public notification period. Table 3.1 identifies who made a submission and what company/organisation was represented. Table 3.1 – Public Submissions Received Representative Company/organisation represented Darryl Seto Friends of Grasslands Douglas Finlayson Shirley Gourgaud G R Griffiths Dianne Mark Alwast Robyn Coghlan David Liversidge Canberra Ornithologists Group James Trezise Ginninderra Catchment Group
of the proposal (i.e. development is forecasted in NSW in 2031: p18) supports this recommendation Further detail on the strategic assessment is mentioned in section 1.2.2 of the report. D4 Oppose the streamlining of assessments and approvals under the EPBC Act. Effective implementation of the EPBC Act is the most essential element of meeting Australia’s international environmental obligations. ….this can only be achieved by the Australian Government retaining direct responsibility for key functions under the EPBC Act. ……. • EDO The strategic assessment has been submitted for consideration by the Minister for the Environment under the EPBC Act. It is not subject to a ‘one-stop shop’ style assessment and approval and will still require independent assessment by the NSW and ACT regulators. Commentary on the approvals process is provided in section 1.2.1 of the Strategic Assessment Report. D5 Appears to be a general view that the concerns have not been adequately assessed and integrated into the decision making and planning. • EDO This is not correct. Whilst some matters are still subject to discussion and the possibility that an “agree to disagree” position may be the final outcome, a generally expressed view from all stakeholder groups and individuals is that the engagement process and responsiveness of the West Belconnen project has been exemplary. In their submission to the Draft Territory Plan Variation (DV351) the ACT Region Conservation Council said as follows: The Riverview Group Pty Limited has provided a good model for urban development through its genuinely consultative approach. It has also sought early views from the Conservation Council and others in order to identify issues to be discussed and researched and has obtained and resourced reports from reputable sources to fill knowledge gaps and inform decision-making and design. As Riverview said in a presentation to the Conservation Council: Our approach has been to work out which parts of the site may be suitable for urban development, before we start planning the urban development. A series of Scientific investigations have been conducted to establish what environmental values are present on the site.