The Molonglo Valley Community Forum (MVCF) say Canberra’s newest satellite town will be without a commercial town centre for the next decade following the ACT Government postponing the Commercial Centre land release until 2023-24.

It comes after the 2018-19 and 2019-20 ACT Budgets said land release was scheduled for the 2021-22 financial year.

The ACT Government also pledged during the 2020 election they would fast track the development of the Molonglo Valley town centre.

According to MVCF, this will leave residents of Molonglo without access to local community and retail facilities for “at least another decade”.

MVCF member, Monique Brouwer, told Canberra Daily the lack of a commercial town centre in Molonglo puts strain on the road network, school system, emergency services, and the social fabric of the community.

“You can’t stay local,” she said. “You have to get on a major arterial road to get anywhere.

“All of those little local connection points that help people’s sense of belonging, by not having those we’re actually affecting the mental health of our community.”

It also has flow on effects to the neighbouring Belconnen and Weston Creek centres, with Molonglo residents forced to commute to get their groceries and transport their kids to high school or college.

With the region growing rapidly – around 35,000-55,000 people are expected to live in the region by the end of the decade – it is the MVCF’s view that amenities aren’t keeping up with suburban development.

“We’re keeping the dwelling numbers growing but not receiving any of the development,” Ms Brouwer said.

“We have to go somewhere; we need services, we need shops, we’re just going to see more and more cars on the road, congestion and people on public transport for hours,” she said.

According to the MVCF, a college will be part of the commercial centre, but in a decade most of the school-age children currently growing up in Molonglo will have graduated Year 12.

Molonglo’s first high school will open for the 2023 school year.

“It’s just sad. You envision when you move in somewhere you’re going to have a certain type of lifestyle; it’s just really disappointing,” she said.

Community pushing ‘for years’ on commercial centre

An ACT Government spokesperson told Canberra Daily the land release has been postponed to avoid piecemeal development and ensure “more holistic planning” so the commercial centre grows “in a coordinated way”.

“Starting land release this year or even next financial year would have seen individual blocks released – delivering the opposite of what the community has so far told us,” they said.

The spokesperson also said the two-year delay allows “the government to hear from the people that already live in Molonglo Valley about what they would like to see in their Group Centre”.

“This community consultation has reinforced the unique opportunity that we have in the planning for Molonglo Valley and the community not only of today but at the scale projected over the next 20 years. 

“It is in response to this community engagement that the government has decided to further refine the work completed so far.”

Ms Brouwer said the Molonglo community has been talking to government “for years” trying to get the commercial centre going.

“The community is ready,” she said.

“We want good design, not something thrown into the beautiful aspect it’s on,” she said, “a community collaborative design and we want to actually see it fast tracked once the development starts.”

The ACT Government spokesperson pointed out that land release for commercial uses continues in the Molonglo Valley with The Koko Molonglo development, which includes a supermarket and other retail, under construction; the first stage is expected to be complete in mid-2022.

Plans for a second supermarket in Koko Molonglo are currently under assessment while land in Whitlam for local shops will be released in 2021-22. 

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