The Molonglo Valley on Ngunnawal Country will be home to nearly 70,000 people by 2050. The Molonglo Town Centre will be at the heart of a new suburb called simply ‘Molonglo’ spanning over 97 hectares and stretching 5 kilometres along the Molonglo River.

The Suburban Land Agency will be designing, constructing, and releasing land in the Molonglo Town Centre over the coming 15 years. The project will run through a number of phases and stages and there will be many opportunities for the community and businesses to influence how this exciting project can best meet the needs of a growing population.

We are seeking your ideas and feedback to develop a community vision for the Molonglo Town Centre as we consider the first residential precinct to the south of the commercial and retail core.

The future Town Centre will be the primary commercial centre for the community, a place where people live, gather, shop, and enjoy life.

To create a future Molonglo Town Centre fit for the future we want to hear from you!

Imagine it is the year 2040. How will the Molonglo Town Centre look and feel like, what is its character? What are the experiences you would value there? What would the best Town Centre of the future include, knowing it’s just near a river corridor?

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Located on Ngunnawal Country on the western edge of the ACT, south of Belconnen and to the north of Weston Creek, the Molonglo Town Centre (formerly referred to as the Molonglo Group Centre) is nestled close to the beautiful Molonglo River and the suburb of Denman Prospect. It will be the fifth suburb within the Molonglo Valley and will become the new suburb named simply “Molonglo” across 97 hectares.

ACT Government has been talking with Canberrans about Molonglo since 2004 with development of the Canberra Spatial Plan, the development of the first Group Centre concepts in 2014, and during the development of the Molonglo Group Centre and Surrounds Concept Plan in 2022. Most recently Government also heard from community in developing the regions 2023 District Strategy, the new ACT Planning System and informing the Molonglo Valley Needs Assessment.

We have heard from local Ngunnawal and other First Nations people with connection to the land that the location of the Town Centre has deep meaning. As Molonglo develops, there are opportunities to honour both past and future Ngunnawal culture, acknowledge ancestors, share knowledge, care for non-human kin, and create interconnected cultural landscapes.

Community inputs over many years have already begun to guide our strategy and the early concept plans. Under the 2008 Territory Plan, the Molonglo Valley District Policy was developed. In 2008 the Molonglo and North Weston Structure Plan was established to develop the suburbs of North Weston, Coombs, Wright, Denman Prospect and Whitlam. In 2011, the Molonglo Valley Strategic Assessment was prepared.

In December 2021 the Molonglo Group Centre and Surrounds Draft Concept Plan was formed. These plans were developed in the policy context of whole of government strategies: the ACT Planning Strategy (2018); the ACT Transport Strategy (2020); and the ACT Climate Change Strategy (2019-25).

In November 2023 the interim new ACT Territory Plan, introduced an outcomes-based planning system, a new Planning Act (2023), new District Strategies, new Design Guides, and a range of additional supporting materials. As part of the interim new Territory Plan, a high-level Molonglo Valley District Strategy was prepared to guide future District development.

In February 2024 the Minister for Planning announced the planned Molonglo Group Centre would be upgraded to a Town Centre and this process has been finalised in late September 2024.

The diagram below illustrates what elements of the Molonglo Town Centre have already been informed by previous conversations and what elements this conversation and the following rounds of community consultation will focus on.

Project stages diagram

What you tell us will inform and shape the future suburb of Molonglo and the Molonglo Town Centre. Your feedback will be reflected in a Listening Report that captures how the community would like Molonglo and its Town Centre to ‘look and feel’. The resulting themes will form a Community Vision that will guide the project team through the design development process as they prepare the Subdivision Design Application (SDA).

There will be many rounds of community engagement as the new suburb and surrounding new suburbs take shape. The Community Vision will anchor these conversations.