THE Land Development Agency’s revised plan for Yarralumla is a monstrous development that harks back to crude land-development approaches from early last century.

Canberra citizens must stand up and demand the high-quality and sustainable precincts we should expect in the 21st century.

The development has been called the Canberra Brickworks and Environs Planning and Development Strategy, but that is a misnomer. The main game is a massive residential development on an area more than 30 per cent larger than Kingston Foreshore!

If such an appalling plan can be foisted on an area with high heritage and landscape values, then we must ask where they will strike next with this type of poorly planned development.

If we do not stand up, we have no one but ourselves to blame if the amenity we bequeath to the next generation is only a shadow of what we enjoy today.

The LDA continues to show contempt for the intelligence of Canberrans in trying to sell the idea that locals support the latest plan to develop the Yarralumla Brickworks and environs, while reluctantly revealing that just 139 Yarralumla residents were interviewed out of a total 1400 Canberrans in a recent phone poll.

The Canberra community provided very clear feedback to the ACT government in response to the previous plan for the area stretching from Dunrossil Drive down to Cotter Road and Adelaide Avenue, and across to the Canberra Brickworks.

While the LDA has modified some aspects of the earlier proposal, it has failed to respond to the bulk of concerns raised by Yarralumla and other Canberra residents. For example:

It deals inadequately with traffic impacts: There are major concerns about the impact of the town-centre scale development on traffic, existing street networks and parking in Yarralumla and surrounding suburbs. The proposed main access roads between the development and existing Yarralumla would not meet relevant standards in terms of width, configuration and traffic volume.

It provides no rationale for the proposed scale and density: There is scope for medium-density residential development that could provide additional options for housing.

However, the LDA provides no justification for the figure of 1800 new dwellings. The proposed density, doubling Yarralumla’s population, bears no relationship to the existing character of Yarralumla.

It doesn’t comply with the Territory Plan, the Spatial Plan 2004, the ACT Planning Strategy (2012) and the National Capital Plan precepts, amongst others.

It destroys valued open spaces, ridge buffer, walking trails and biodiversity: Yarralumla and many other Canberra residents highly value connectivity between the open green spaces/natural parklands, mature trees (including the oak plantation) and walking trails in the development site.

The latest plan respects none of these values, nor the ridge buffer between South Canberra and Woden Valley referred to in the National Capital Plan, nor the endangered golden sun moth and natural temperate grasslands habitat.

We are appalled that the strategy will involve massive earthworks to flatten the 49-hectare site, and destroy some 2000 trees, imposing an urban design incompatible with the site topography.

The scale of this destruction and deforestation is likely unprecedented in the historic heart of the national capital.

It contravenes the National Capital Plan: Implementation of the latest plan will impact adversely on the main avenue and approach route to the Governor General’s residence by replacing the direct entrance to Dunrossil Drive with a main access road to the new housing estate. Dunrossil Drive may be shortened by over 20 per cent, around 30 of the avenue’s heritage-listed elms are likely to be removed and ridges on either side will be flattened.

It conflates Brickworks conservation and adaptation with residential development: The latest plan continues to conflate Brickworks conservation and adaptation with a massive residential development.

The Brickworks are the responsibility of the ACT Government, administered with reference to the Heritage Act 2004 on behalf of all ACT residents.

Only a very modest $5 million is being allocated to conservation and adaptation of the Brickworks buildings, so clearly the main objective of the development is to raise revenue from land sales.

Marea Fatseas is the president of the Yarralumla Residents Association.