Okay for them, but Greenslabor resents you owning a car

Claims by Greenslabor that developers don’t need to provide adequate parking is laughable. It is pathetic spin to move the guilt on to residents from incompetent politicians, says “Canberra Matters” columnist PAUL COSTIGAN.

THE ACT government’s planning bureaucracy is housed at 480 Northbourne Avenue with parking available for its more privileged ranks. Right outside the front door is the bus interchange and a stop for the tram. 

When the developers build apartments, if the tram is 800 metres or more away, residents are expected to catch the tram and their spaces for parking are reduced. Makes sense to anyone, right?

The parking at 480 Northbourne should not be available as a perk for those with well-paid jobs. The bureaucrats should be on the buses, the tram or on your bike! They should be “active travel” leaders!

Claims by Greenslabor that developers do not need to provide adequate parking for residents is laughable. It is pathetic spin to move the guilt on to residents and move attention away from the incompetent politicians who continue to fail to deliver on adequate transport and parking.

But let’s get real. This is not about transport and cars. This is about ensuring developers maximise profits. Having none or less parking in apartments complexes will not increase affordability. Any politician coming out with these alternative facts should be subject to ridicule.

ACT politicians constantly remind us that they work hard and need to be privileged with taxpayer-funded cars and parking in Civic. They need to get to a lot of events to maximise the opportunities for selfies. The Greenslabor politicians love their false narratives. Luckily, few take them seriously. A ship of fools is being polite.

Once elected, ACT government politicians learn quickly not to identify with residents working the same or more hours for a lot less and who regularly need to drive around in all sort of directions at any time of the day or evening and require parking. 

Based on their positions of entitlement, politicians and their compliant bureaucracies regularly announce that everyone else should use public transport or “active travel” (whatever that is). This applies especially if they “chose” to live in apartment towers and complexes built under the Barr town-cramming policies.

This official, patronising attitude towards residents is reminiscent of that 2014 infamous comment by the federal treasurer: “Poor people do not need cars”. 

While there much more to be said about the ridiculousness of ACT government spin on cars, what the bureaucracy rules acceptable for apartment parking could be a whole thesis. Here is one recent inner-north example.

A set of 22 units are to replace five houses and are to have a mix of single (2), double (19) and three bed (1) flats– most likely 43 beds. The allocation according to the rules is 38 car spaces. Still trying to work out how the 19 two-bedroom units with an allocation of 1.5 each will work out? 

Based on the usual state of cohabiting, the estimate might be for 50 to 60 people to be housed in the 22 units and maybe having close to the same number of cars – plus visitors. The nearby streets have a lot of on-street parking due to other apartments plus a nearby college has inadequate parking for older students. Those students park in neighbourhood streets.

The developer’s consultants boldly state that there is enough parking on site and there will be no extra parking happening on nearby streets or on the generous verges out front. Really? How do they work that out?

Do your own sums on what is more likely. Your stats will be as good as, if not better than, the consultants. Residents know from experience how much overflow parking happens around blocks of apartments. That’s the way of dysfunctional planning rules under this coalition of ACT Greens and ACT Labor.

There is also much to be said about the role of compliant traffic experts in the opaque world of ACT government development application approvals. That will be a separate piece for another time.

Cars are here to stay for a long time yet. Public transport in Canberra will be limited in its use and relevance for the vast majority of this city’s residents for many decades – at least.

This Greenslabor lot have to get over their distaste for residents owning cars and who need to move about freely for example to take the kids to sport, to get to work (without spending hours on public transport), to get to that important medical appointment, to get home urgently or to simply get the family shopping done.

This government has to have intelligent conversations with residents (the people who live here, not just their favoured lobbyists) on what the real mix could be for the foreseeable future between private cars, cycles, public transport and walking. Then we would need a new lot of professional planners to do real 21st century planning.