Local MLA Steve Doszpot presented the petition in the Legislative Assembly on August 6, and the Assembly passed a motion calling on the Government to consider the issues raised.

The petition was not about opposing development. It was about very real issues associated with the Land Development Agency’s proposal for a town centre scale development of 1600 dwellings in buildings up to eight storeys high.

The petitioners called for a reworked plan more in character with the existing suburb, that addresses significant traffic issues, enables preservation of the Brickworks, provides information on the safe removal of asbestos and other contamination, and deals with infrastructure and other impacts.

People from all over Canberra and elsewhere enjoy the shops and cafes, green spaces, walking trails and amenity in Yarralumla. There is a mix of housing, with more than 20 per cent townhouses, duplexes and dual occupancies; significant provision of public housing; and a growing number of apartments.

Canberrans are very much aware of the iconic heritage sites in the vicinity of the proposed Brickworks and environs development. They are integral to the birth of Canberra as Australia’s national capital.

The century old Westbourne Woods with their experimental plantings by Thomas Weston, extend west from the planned development site, towards the ridge buffer (between South Canberra and Woden), Dunrossil Drive and Government House. The heritage-listed Canberra Brickworks, brickpits/quarry, and Brickworks railway remnants; as well as archaeological remains of previous Brickworks housing, and a section of the old Uriarra Track, lie within the proposed development site. North of the site are the heritage listed CSIRO Forestry Precinct, Yarralumla Nursery, and Weston Park.

We are alarmed that the current development proposal provides only token funding of $1.5 million (less than 1 per cent of likely land sale revenue from the development) for “making safe” the Brickworks buildings.

This is not enough to conserve, let alone adaptively reuse the Brickworks, which have been left to decay for more than 35 years.

The funding is less than half the amount the Government proposes to spend on a bus stop on Adelaide Avenue. Yet 2015 will be the centenary of the construction of the famous Staffordshire kiln at the Brickworks, the only kiln of its kind left in Australia and one of only a few in the world.

There is a better way to proceed. Through good planning, we can preserve iconic heritage sites for current and future generations, while providing for additional residential development. There must be a balanced approach to development, which is less about a “cash grab” and more about creating a genuinely vibrant and sustainable community.

Marea Fatseas is president of the Yarralumla Residents Association