FORWARD PLANNING SESSION ON THE EFFECTIVE OPERATION OF THE BELCONNEN COMMUNITY COUNCIL AND ITS INTERACTION WITH BELCONNEN RESIDENTS

The Belconnen Community Council (BCC) is holding its final forum and Christmas party for 2008;

Thursday 27 October
7.00pm for 7.15pm start finishing at 9.15pm
Community Room, upstairs Belconnen Library
Chandler Street, Belconnen

As the existence of the BCC is to provide a voice for Belconnen Residents, this forum will focus on the cohesiveness and communication structure within the executive and committees of the BCC and between the BCC and Belconnen Residents so that members can more effectively fulfil their functions in serving the community.

The Belconnen Community Council is holding a special meeting to host a forum open to all candidates contesting the seat of Ginninderra in the ACT election. The forum will be held at:

Tuesday 7 October
7:00pm for 7:15pm start, finishing at 9:15pm
Community Room, upstairs Belconnen Library
Chandler Street, Belconnen

The structure of the forum will be:

1. Introduction
2. Opening questions addressed to all candidates
3. Moderated questions from the audience

Based on acceptances received from candidates so far, we hope to have a good cross-section of candidates from various political parties and independent candidates appearing at the forum.

The Belconnen Community Council will be holding its Annual General Meeting on:

7.00pm, Tuesday 21 October 2008
Community Room, upstairs Belconnen Library
Chandler Street, Belconnen

The AGM will see the presentation of financial statements by the Treasurer and a report on events during the past 12 months by the current President.

Also, those present at the AGM will elect BCC office bearers for the positions of President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Public Officer and Committee Members until the next AGM.

If you have ever wanted to get more involved in a community organisation, you are highly encouraged to come along and volunteer your time for any of these positions.

Anne Breckwoldt, who is working as part of the Parks, Conservation and Lands section of the ACT Government, will also make a presentation to the BCC on plans proposed for the public spaces on the Emu Inlet area on the Belconnen lakeshore.

ACTEW Corporation is undertaking the Cotter Precinct consultation in partnership with Parks, Conservation and Lands (PCL) within the Department of Territory and Municipal Services.

Workshops

Workshops are being run to find out what the community values about the Cotter Precinct. All workshops will be run in a small group format.

• Mon 22nd September 12-2pm Belconnen
• Wed 24th September 6-8pm Woden
• Thur 25th September 5.30-7.30pm Civic
• Sat 11th October 12-2pm Tuggeranong

To register for a workshop please phone 6248 3563 or email ACTEW at watersecurity@actew.com.au.

UPDATE: A video of this forum is now available for viewing on the Canberra Votes website.

The September 2008 Community Forum will be held at:

7.00pm, Tuesday 16 September 2008
Community Room, upstairs Belconnen Library
Chandler Street, Belconnen

Our special guest for September will be the Chief Minister Jon Stanhope, who will be talking about the past, present and future of Belconnen and Canberra, as well as taking questions from the audience about the last four years of the ACT Government.

The August 2008 Community Forum will be held at:

7.00pm, Tuesday 19 August 2008
Community Room, upstairs Belconnen Library
Chandler Street, Belconnen

(Note the earlier start time. The BCC Committee has agreed to trial starting our meetings at 7pm from now on.)

Purdon Associates and Maunsell have been engaged by ACTPLA to prepare a Concept Plan for that part of the future suburb of Lawson which is controlled by the Territory.

Note that this excludes the Naval Station and all land in Lawson controlled by the Department of Defence.

The consultants will be giving a presentation on the current status of the project. However, they are keen to emphasize that the whole process is at a very early stage, and that no preferred outcomes have yet been determined.

The July 2008 Community Forum will be held at:

7.30pm, Tuesday 22 July 2008
Meeting Room 2, Belconnen Community Centre
26 Chandler Street, Belconnen
(NOTE changed date and location)

GHD Pty Ltd has been engaged by the ACT Government to undertake the community consultation process on the future use of eight former school sites.

The eight former school sites (now termed "community sites") are Cook, Weston Creek, Melrose (Chifley), Village Creek (Kambah), North Curtin, Holt, Mount Neighbour (Kambah) and Rivett.

The Belconnen Community Council has asked GHD to come to its July meeting in order to gather feedback from Belconnen residents about uses for the Holt and Cook community sites.

The June 2008 Community Forum will be held at:

7.30pm, Tuesday 17 June 2008
Community Room, upstairs Belconnen Library
Chandler Street, Belconnen

The Ginninderra Catchment Group helps communities work in partnership with government, business and other non-government organisations to protect the rural and urban landscape of the Ginninderra Creek Catchment.

The Catchment itself includes Gungahlin, Belconnen and a region of NSW, covering approximately 32,000 hectares. The ultimate goal of the Ginninderra Catchment Group is to balance resource utilisation and conservation within the catchment, thus making sure that Canberra rivers and lakes remain healthy and diverse aquatic ecosystems which we can all enjoy.

The May 2008 Community Forum will be held at:

7.30pm, Tuesday 20 May 2008
Community Room, upstairs Belconnen Library
Chandler Street, Belconnen

The ACT Government announced plans as part of the FY2008/09 budget to provide regional community hubs and neighbourhood halls on the former school sites.

Most significantly for Belconnen, Cook Primary School will be converted to an Arts Hub, and neighbourhood halls will be made available for community hire at Cook, Hall, and Holt.