Property Council ACT & Capital Region Executive Director Ashlee Berry said the framework picks up many of the themes canvassed at the Property Council's recent Capital Region Housing Summit, including precinct-based growth, skills, city-shaping infrastructure, and a focus on liveability.
"CBR2030 is broadly heading in the right direction. It recognises that Canberra's future growth must be anchored in knowledge industries, city-shaping infrastructure and well-designed precincts that bring jobs, housing, and services together," Ms Berry said.
"From our perspective the big gap is not ambition, it is execution. Government, industry, and the community all need to work together to get this framework plus commitments on planning reform and lease variation charges (LVC), and construction productivity reforms into a program that accelerates approvals, unlocks viable projects and supports delivery of 30,000 homes by 2030."
"At the same time, we strongly disagree with the view in CBR2030 that Canberra can simply 'work from anywhere'. A strong, knowledge-based economy still relies on vibrant offices and employment precincts where people and ideas collide, where mentoring and innovation happen in person, and where local cafes, retailers and services have the foot traffic they need to survive.
"Flexibility is important, but it has to go hand in hand with a strategy to keep our town centres and the CBD busy, safe and attractive places to do business."
Ms Berry said today's ACT building approvals figures underlined the need to move quickly from vision statements to decisions that improve project feasibility on the ground.
"Approvals in October were moving in the right direction, but the pipeline is fragile," Ms Berry said.
"ABS data show total dwelling approvals in the ACT jumped from just 91 in September to 668 in October, lifting annual approvals to 3,899 in the 12 months to October, up from 3,365 over the previous year. It is a strong result after a lean run, but one good month does not repair the pipeline or get us close to delivering 30,000 homes by 2030."
"The good news is that many of the tools are already on the table. LVC and productivity reform, the new planning system, town and group centre renewal and the 30,000 homes commitment can all sit neatly inside CBR2030.
"The test over the next 12-24 months will be whether government can achieve faster decisions, clearer delivery timelines for key precincts and a strong partnership with industry on implementation - we're ready to work with government to help them do that," Ms Berry said.
