Implement the “asks” agreed by CAPaD & the Community Councils Urban Planning Working group in 2017 (including building a community of practice)

Background
In 2017 The Canberra Alliance started working with Community Councils, residents’ groups, local organisations and community members to identify how we could improve community participation in urban planning and development in Canberra.

That Group came up with a set of shared “asks” that were agreed in principle with the Combined Community Councils. These are things that both the Canberra Alliance and Community Councils, Residents Associations and other local groups can all advocate for, working separately or together.

Those asks can now be refined and an action plan put in place.

We believe that Canberra’s urban future will be better if co-designed with the community.

Develop and act on a set of “asks” that will improve community participation in urban planning in Canberra. These will encompass:

  1. addressing structural inequity that undermines current efforts by the community to engage in planning decisions, e.g. the power imbalance and the exclusive nature of existing governance arrangements;
  2. using the mechanisms of the current planning system to hold the government to account for decisions being made for us (e.g. working with the Auditor General, the Legislative Assembly Planning Committee, etc.);
  3. building community capacity to participate in contributing to planning and development decisions for Canberra;
  4. advocating for changes to rules that systemically disempower the community voice (e.g. rules which remove the rights of appeal).

Note: the Urban Planning Action Group will NOT get involved in actual urban planning proposals. It will focus on what will improve the quality and effectiveness of community participation and building ways for that to happen.

Moving along.