Certainty maintained for development in the Kingston Foreshore Precinct

Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Simon Corbell, has today welcomed a compromise decision in the Legislative Assembly that will still see the majority of development in the Kingston Foreshore area exempt from any third party merit review.

An attempt by the Greens to disallow the planning regulation made by Mr Corbell in October last year was defeated in the Assembly today. However, an amendment was made to the disallowance motion, which would restore third party appeal rights to any future development in the cultural precinct.

"This is a sensible compromise to allow development to proceed while allowing administrative review of decisions about development within the arts precinct," he said.

"The Government was pleased to support this compromise on that basis."

Mr Corbell said it was essential to maintain certainty for major developments in the Kingston Foreshore precinct.

"Third party reviews in the past have created unnecessary delays and uncertainty for some developments in the Kingston Foreshore precinct," he said.

"The Kingston Foreshore is a highly planned and regulated re-development area and developments which are consistent with this master planned area should be able to proceed with certainty.

"The regulation made last year removed the possibility of third party applications to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal for merit review of development applications granted in the Kingston Foreshore area.

"I believe it is important for the industry and the wider community to have certainty."