High levels of interest in residential land ballots have not always turned into sales after people selected through the process have failed to follow up to buy a block, the ACT's Chief Planner has said.
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Ben Ponton acknowledged strong demand for spots in residential land ballots but blocks had become available for sale over the counter after potential buyers did not respond after being selected in the ballot process.
Planning Minister Mick Gentleman and officials defended the release of land for new housing in the territory in a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday.
"We have released land to meet population growth ... It's not about financial return at all. We want to ensure that we can do the best for Canberra in the future," Mr Gentleman said.
Mr Gentleman said incorrect census data had not affected the government's forecasting for land release.
"We actually knew it wasn't correct at the time, so we were still able to provide an indicative land release program to meet population growth," he said.
The ACT budget has forecast a $99 million revenue slow down mainly as a result of slower-than-expected land sales as interest rate rises make it harder for people to purchase property.
Officials were also stumped when asked whether new housing at the second stage of Lawson would count towards the city's urban infill or greenfield targets.
The targets were based on the urban footprint when the policy was adopted in 2018, which included land earmarked for residential release but not yet developed, estimates was told.
This would mean housing that appears to be built in greenfield areas would actually count towards the 70 per cent infill target as technically it would be located within the existing urban footprint, as defined five years ago.
An ACT government spokeswoman later confirmed Lawson would count as an infill development.
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Mr Ponton said the 70 per cent infill target was measured using building approval information but said he understood a knock-down rebuild project, which does not add extra housing, would be filtered out of the dataset.
Mr Ponton took on notice a question of how the territory's new housing performed annually against the targets.
Mr Gentleman also said the documentation required for the adoption of the new outcomes-centred planning system were being considered by cabinet, and suggested they would be released sometime before the end of September.
Mr Ponton said the contents of the finalised district strategies and technical specifications would not be a total mystery to the community.
"[Draft] documents were released for public consultation and the work that we've been doing since has been responding to that engagement activity, and providing recommendations to government as to what changes are appropriate before finalising those documents," he said.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
