4.1 Background

This chapter covers the General Planning Principles and Policies that will apply to urban areas in the Territory, and sets out the special requirements for development of areas, being requirements that are desirable in the interests of the National Capital.

In the Authority’s view, urban land in the Territory should continue to be organised as a series of distinct and relatively self-contained towns separated from adjacent towns by hills, ridges and other major open spaces.

The National Capital Plan therefore provides for the continuation of urban development in the Territory as separate and distinct towns set in broad landscaped valleys, with the immediate hills, ridges and other major open space providing separation between towns and the distant mountains providing a natural landscape backdrop.

For the foreseeable future, urban land in Metropolitan Canberra will comprise:

• the existing towns
• the new town of Gungahlin
• the existing villages of Hall, Oaks Estate and Tharwa
• and those industrial areas not yet within towns; Mitchell and Hume
• Molonglo and North Weston.

Additional urban development in the Districts of Canberra Central, Woden–Weston Creek and Belconnen is anticipated through procedures of the Territory Plan.

This land-use structure will accommodate much of the development needs of the next decade (especially if urban consolidation proves effective) but it will need to be reviewed to assess how cost effective it will be in the long term and whether it will continue to be viable as the basis for future decision-making. Part Three of this Plan, in a section on the Future of the Capital, provides background notes on population, employment and housing projections.

Protected airspace provisions in relation to Canberra International Airport apply to development independently of the National Capital Plan. To satisfy a requirement of the Airports (Protection of Airspace) Regulations 1996, Canberra International Airport Pty Ltd has prepared a diagram prescribing protected airspace. The diagram is incorporated in the Airport Master Plan prepared under the Airports Act 1996. Detailed information may be obtained from the Commonwealth agency with responsibility for protected airspace (currently Department of Transport and Regional Services)

Centres

One of the key principles of Canberra’s urban structure has been that a hierarchy of centres has been developed, with each town having a centre acting as a focal point for higher order retail functions, commercial services, offices and community facilities.

This hierarchical principle, at the metropolitan level, means that:

• Canberra Central continues to be the main location of metropolitan employment
• Civic has been encouraged to develop as the most specialised retail, commercial, cultural, entertainment and tourist centre
• town centres provide retail, commercial, cultural, entertainment and other facilities to meet community needs, and serve also as locations for office-based employment.

Centres at each level in the hierarchy form the focus of a range of retail, commercial and community facilities and services, in which specialisation increases at successively higher levels.

The integrity of the hierarchy of centres has broadly been maintained with the levels of fulfilling distinct but complementary functions.

Pressures are now being felt for major redevelopment in some centres such as Dickson, Kingston and Manuka. This would be undesirable if major changes to the three centres went counter to the purpose of the hierarchy of established centres.

Continued expansion of services and facilities should be provided for and encouraged in each of the town centres, including Tuggeranong.

Each town should have a town centre. The Territory Plan will provide for a range of lower order centres to meet the varying needs of residents.

Industry

Canberra’s industry has been accommodated in industrial estates at Fyshwick, Mitchell, Hume and Bruce and in the area immediately west of Oaks Estate. The location of industry within estates, the placement of these estates where they contribute to overall transport efficiency, and the avoidance of haphazard industrial location throughout the Urban Areas, have contributed to the structure and character of Canberra’s development.

The established industrial estates have limited capacity to accommodate additional development. Within the next two to three years sites for new estates need to be established, and planning and design commenced. The Authority supports the development of further industrial estates as a means of increasing the industrial base of Canberra’s economy, and to provide a greater diversity of employment opportunities.

Click here to go to 4.2 Additional Urban Land in the Territory