Canberrans were invited to provide feedback on the Draft Urban Open Space Land Management Plan from May 2023 to August 2023 to help shape the future management and use of our public open spaces and ensure the plan reflects the needs of our growing and diverse community.

Feedback received during the community engagement is summarised in the What We Heard Report.

In late 2023, the draft Urban Open Space Land Management Plan was updated to incorporate feedback from the community and key stakeholders. In early 2024, the draft plan was reviewed by the Standing Committee on Planning, Transport and City Services.

Work is now underway to develop an implementation plan for the Urban Open Space Land Management Plan in collaboration with key stakeholders, before the draft plan is finalised.

You can help shape the implementation plan by:

• completing the survey below
• emailing your feedback to communityengagement@act.gov.au

Feedback closes xx 2024.

Urban Open Space Land Management Plan

The Urban Open Space Land Management Plan sets the 10-year strategic direction for urban parks, playgrounds, sports grounds, dryland ovals, pedestrian parklands, laneways, road verges, median strips and other urban open spaces managed by Transport Canberra and City Services.

The Urban Open Space Land Managment Plan was developed with extensive community consultation in 2023 via Your Say, face to face consultation sessions and written formal submissions. The plan provides information about how the ACT Government manages over 6,800 hectares of urban open space on the community’s behalf; sets out the land types and their values as well as the range of facilities available in each land type; and the range of activities anticipated for each land type and the role each of us can play in shaping our public open space.

Implementation of the Urban Open Space Land Management Plan supports the ongoing provision of quality open spaces that offer opportunities for formal and informal recreation; the holding of local events; active living and social interaction; and contribute to the overall health and wellbeing of the community and our sense of identity and belonging.

Our city is evolving

The Canberra urban open space network is expanding. There are increasing demands on facilities and services as the ACT's population grows beyond 460,000 people . The impacts of urban development and densification and climate change present new challenges for our urban open spaces.

As Canberra’s population grows and there is an increase in urban densification there will be a growing demand for quality public urban open space, particularly in medium/high density development areas where access to private open space is limited. It is important that high quality public spaces are provided that are accessible, safe and meet the changing needs of the community and management practices are responsive to climate change.

Finding a balance between the environmental, social (including cultural and heritage) and economic considerations, requires careful use of finite resources to implement a successful Urban Open Space Land Management Plan and provide a strategic response to this challenge.

An implementation plan will provide more detail about how the Urban Open Space Land Management Plan will be delivered to meet the needs of our evolving city.

Objective

The implementation plan will provide a clear and achievable operational path to deliver the vision of the Urban Open Space Land Managment Plan.

Urban Open Space Land Management Plan Vision

Sustainable urban open spaces that: enrich the lives of our community; improve the amenity of the Territory’s urban environment; and protect and enhance their cultural, social, and environmental values.

Scope

The implementation plan will cover the following urban open spaces:

• Town parks
• District parks
• Neighbourhood parks
• Micro parks
• Community recreation parks
• Sportsgrounds – enclosed and open (neighbourhood ovals; district playing fields and informal dryland ovals)
• Pedestrian parklands
• Laneways
• Natural open space (grassland or woodland sites)
• Semi-natural open space
• Heritage parks
• Verges and medians (nature strips)
• Special purpose areas (skateparks; exercise parks; dog parks; community gardens; BMX tracks; Learn to ride centres; equestrian areas; water skiing areas; showgrounds)
• Broadacre open space
• Shopping centres
• ACT public cemeteries.

Note: Canberra Nature Parks are managed by the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate and are out of scope for the implementation plan.

Collaboration

The implementation plan will be prepared and delivered through continuing collaboration with key stakeholders.

Local Traditional Custodians the Ngunnawal people, and any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT, will be actively engaged to implement the Urban Open Space Land Management Plan.

Community consultation will be embedded into the implementation plan as part of the ‘community-centric’ principle and the ‘community at the centre of decision making’ objective of the Urban Open Space Land Management Plan.

One example of collaboration with key stakeholders is that we will actively consult local conservation volunteer groups and Traditional Custodians to identify the best locations to plant native grassland, shrubs and trees to protect remnant native grasslands with ‘no-mow’ zones, to increase native vegetation habitat corridors in urban open spaces.

Key principles and strategic actions

The Urban Open Space Land Management Plan uses the following 12 key principles to guide implementation:

1. Community centric
2. Accessible, inclusive and equitable
3. Open and transparent
4. Collaborative and responsive
5. Shared stewardship
6. Valued
7. Safe
8. Quality and value for money
9. Sustainable
10. Continuous improvement
11. Compliant
12. Accountability

85 strategic actions have been identified under the key principles to guide the implementation of the Uran Open Space Land Management Plan for the next 10 years.

Some of the strategic actions are new and/or highly specific, for example:

• work across ACT Government to identify biodiversity restoration locations
• review use of dryland ovals in consultation with community.

Many of the strategic actions have an internal focus and are routine business as usual tasks, for example:

• be open and honest in providing information to our community and stakeholders
• identify and deliver staff training needs.

Implementation timeframe

The key objectives and strategies of the Urban Open space Land Managment Plan will be delivered over a 10-year period, starting in 2024 and ending in 2034.

A phased approach will be taken to focus operational activity as outlined below:

Note: Some of the individual strategic actions are discrete timebound projects while others are activities that will span the entire implementation period.