Plans to protect Forrest, Deakin to maintain 'garden city' character won't be implemented in wider Canberra

The National Capital Authority has proposed to ensure "soft landscape" remains a critical part of the "garden city" surroundings in parts of Forrest and Deakin under the NCA's control.

However, on the opposite side of the streets like National Circuit, under the control of the ACT government, such rules would not be in place.

The document produced by the NCA outlines a number of policies set to be implemented to protect the neighbourhood character of residential areas close to Parliament House.

Community feedback is sought on the proposal.

The paper identified key issues relevant to the precinct, but said a number of the issues identified could be relevant to other areas of the city, or the city as a whole.

A spokesman for the minister for the environment and heritage, planning and land management and urban renewal, Mick Gentleman, ruled out implementing the changes in wider suburbs.

"The garden city characteristics of areas under ACT control continue to be protected by a range of measures, including the territory plan," the spokesman said.

He said in addition to protections already in place for trees and minimum allowance of green space on residential blocks, the government had planted and maintained 760,000 street trees to provide shade throughout the city.

"We are currently developing a living infrastructure strategy examining ways to increase tree coverage to reduce urban heat in areas where tree distribution is at a lower density. Targets for urban tree canopies will be prepared for 2020," the spokesman said.

Climate change adaptation was a key policy of the NCA proposal. For the area under NCA control, the proposal is to increase canopy cover and vegetation to help reduce urban temperatures.

As the Deakin and Forrest residential precinct is "already extensively treed and landscaped", the proposal is to maintain this through a new provision to strengthen "soft landscaping" requirements, retaining large, existing trees and planting new trees that would reach twice the height of buildings and provide 15 per cent canopy coverage within 10 years.

Forrest Residents Group member John Newham doesn't believe the ACT government is doing enough to protect existing trees, which he described as in a "terrible state of decline and neglect".

He said there was an "obvious conflict" between the values of the government and that of the NCA.

"More plantings are necessary, but just as importantly is the maintenance [of existing trees]. They go hand in hand," he said.

He pointed to specific areas of Forrest he felt were neglected under the ACT's control, including Collins Park.

A government spokesman said the trees in that particular area were damaged during recent storms, and further work to remove dead wood would be undertaken in the coming months.

"In addition to the maintenance of the existing trees, 30 new trees will be planted in Collins Park in 2017/18 to replace a number of dead or dying trees that were previously removed for safety," the spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, the government budgeted $7 million for maintaining urban trees in the 2016-17 financial year.