An audit of the purchases of rural land in the west of the ACT by the former Land Development Agency has found the $43 million in transactions to lack integrity and to be potentially fruitless if the land is never developed.
In her audit report No. 8 of 2018, Assembly of rural land west of Canberra, Auditor-General Maxine Cooper found the land had been purchased “as a potential future urban development front”.
“There has been a disconnect in the priorities of the work undertaken by the former Land Development Agency and the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate,” Dr Cooper said.
“(This) means either there will be delays in the identification and release of potential urban development fronts, or suboptimal use of resources in securing and maintaining properties that may not become a future urban development front.”
She said there was a need to integrate the timing of planning studies and land purchases and called on the Government to make its priorities clear.
“There was also inadequate clarity and documentation provided for the application of the ACT Government’s Planning and Development (Land Acquisition Policy Framework) Direction 2014 (No 1),” Dr Cooper said.
She also saw dangers in the Territory’s land planning function being influenced by the large landholding
“Given the ACT Government’s ownership of such a large rural area and the need to consider all changes since the development of the ACT Planning Strategy (2012), it is important that planning studies, to inform an updated planning strategy, be independent of existing land tenure and cover the Territory as a whole.
“While the Chief Planning Executive has advised that existing land tenure will not be a consideration in the planning studies, it would be prudent to provide the ACT community with transparency with respect to how this is to be achieved.
Dr Cooper called for an assurance that the Government’s ownership of the land would not affect the planning studies.
Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Yvette Berry welcomed the Auditor-General’s report saying it related to the former Land Development Agency and did not consider improvements that had been made since its replacement.
“There has been significant work undertaken to establish robust governance in the Suburban Land Agency, the City Renewal Authority and the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate,” Ms Berry said.
The Auditor-General’s 207-page report can be accessed at this PS News link and the audit team was Brett Stanton, Jonathan Brown, Jasmin Kientzel, Omer Farooq and Professor Sue Holliday with assistance from Sophie Butler-Stratton and David Kelly.
