The Ginninderra electorate, which in general terms is the Belconnen region, has a vibrant and bustling town centre with lots of apartment blocks going up, hence the reference to ”The Apartment Song” by Tom Petty.  

I chatted recently with local Member for Ginninderra Peter Cain MLA, who is very proud of his electorate and spoke glowingly of the area. However, he also highlighted some of the issues that people in his electorate face, including the demand for better local services, and you can listen to the “Bite-sized politics” podcast to hear his views.

Belconnen is expected to remain the largest district in the ACT, with approximately 23 per cent of the ACT’s total population. Growth over the next 40 years is projected to increase from the current population of 111,153 people to a projected population of 185,063 people in 2065. Some of the growth will be in greenfield suburbs in Ginninderry, as well as substantial new infill developments in the Belconnen Town Centre, and urban infill in other suburbs as they experience demographic renewal and development.

Ginninderry is a joint venture between the ACT Government and Riverview Developments P/L. The development spans approximately 1,600 hectares across the ACT-NSW border, with about 1,000 hectares designated for urban development and 596 hectares as a Conservation Corridor. Eventually the project will include 11,500 homes, housing approximately 30,000 people, with about 6,500 dwellings in the ACT, and 5,000 in NSW. The NSW land is landlocked by the Murrumbidgee River and Ginninderra Creek and is only accessible through the ACT, making it a logical extension of the territory. However, negotiating the cross-border development is very complex, with ongoing uncertainty about whether or when the border will ultimately be moved.

In the Belconnen Town Centre, multiple large-scale residential tower projects are proposed or underway, including developments with towers up to 28 storeys. Some proposals have been rejected by planning authorities for being too large for their sites or failing planning rules, highlighting tensions between development ambitions and planning constraints.

This growth will, of course, create several challenges, including additional strain on the bus network, and traffic congestion on key routes such as Coulter Drive, Haydon Drive and the GDE during peak times. The light rail is unlikely to provide much solace, with the light rail extension to Belconnen unlikely before the very late 2030s. There is also the issue of parking in the Town Centre and also in our suburbs when density increases.

There is a worry that high-density residential development is outpacing the delivery of community infrastructure. The community council has stressed that new developments shouldn’t repeat the mistakes of other areas where community facilities haven’t kept pace with population growth. Peter Cain also points to the need for adequate green space to meet the needs of apartment-dwellers – for example, he would have liked to see the expansion of Margaret Timpson Park, just across the road from the major shopping centre, but that is not happening. Living in an apartment means you appreciate those green spaces even more.