Molonglo Valley Stage 2 & Tennis ACT

Patrick, a former civil engineer and now employee of TAMS (Territory and Municipal Services) was our guest lecturer this week. He introduced the class to the infrastructure and planning for the second stage of the Molonglo Valley Development.

Molonglo Development stages 1, 2 & 3.

We also had a class discussion about a prospective 20 million dollar public tennis club redevelopment for Lynham (Canberra's inner-north) and what the pros and con's may be.

To start with - Molonglo Valley: lies to the immediate west of Canberra (10 kilometers from the city) and is expected to have up to 60,000 new residents and 13 new suburbs. It's an impressive addition to Canberra's Y-plan (1967) whilst keeping in-line with the Territory Plan and Spatial Plan.


It is being developed in three stages:

1. Coombs, North Weston and Wright. (currently being planned and sold);
2. South of the Molonglo River (currently being planned); and
3. North of the Molonglo River (which will be planned and developed in the next 10 years).

Protected species: Pink tailed worm lizard

Currently stage two is in the process of implementation. This includes looking at public transport (which would link into a large loop of Canberra), major roads (research was done on whether the current surrounding roads could handle the extra demand and it was found that they could), urban design (keeping up with the garden city ideal), storm water/sewers (considering the topography of the land and estimated flows to handle), drinking water (estimated populations), commercial/retail facilities and environmental considerations.

One of the main environmental factors raised that I will quickly look at was the concern over the native Pink Tailed Worm Lizard. The Molonglo Development is being built on Pink Tailed Worm Lizard habitats and as my science teacher said "some people would think it's criminal what they're doing over there".

Tennis ACT is hoping to build a new sports complex over their current tennis facilities to "attract international tennis tournaments back to Canberra". Personally, I thought it was a good idea. Not for the tournaments, but for young Canberrans who are interested in becoming tennis players. It would not cause any environmental damage and the roads next to it are sufficient for any additional tournament traffic loadings.