A place for people: the Commonwealth Park concept vision sees space of varied uses and rich with amenity. Images: NCA.
The first thing that comes to mind when you look at the new vision for Commonwealth Park is that it is going to take a lot more money than is spent on it now to pull it off.
Granted, it’s not an overnight project, but the focus on amenities, particularly a much bigger Stage 88, points to a strategy to find revenue sources to fund the park operations and maintenance.
Indeed, Stage 88 and its expansive grassy amphitheatre look like the park centrepiece with the intention of being Canberra’s major outdoor event venue capable of hosting big concerts and thousands of people.
While some will be thrilled with a park full of amenity, including the aquatic centre, new pavilions, play spaces, picnic facilities and cafes, others will be appalled at what appears to be fewer trees and a more intense built environment.
The aim is to make the park a place for people, not simply a green space for its own sake, which may upset purists who have despaired at the degradation of the park over the past three decades.
That has been due to insufficient funding for the NCA to maintain and improve it, as well as the annual toll Floriade takes on the park.
The vision aims to resolve this by making the floral beds permanent but reducing the overall footprint of the flower festival, or, in the document’s language, making it more concentrated.
This makes sense. No alternative venue seems apparent and the bed preparation and bump in and bump out is becoming unsustainable.
The ACT will seek a partnership with the Commonwealth on Floriade infrastructure.
The nature and water play proposals will thrill children and their parents, and families will welcome more facilities throughout the park to make life easier for them.
Do we need more cafes? Well, the Walter and Marion at Regatta Point provide a certain offering, but there is scope across the park for a different experience pitched at families.
Again, the goal would be to make the park a more attractive destination and generate some revenue at the same time.
The vision is to make use of the entire park, for example, by activating the eastern end with a wetland play area, and a new garden in the southwest corner by the lake would be welcome.
Some will say this will make the park too busy and not a place of quiet reflection or respite from an increasingly developed city in the spirit of the botanic gardens developed last century and before in cities and towns across Australia.
The whole southern gateway is set to be transformed with light rail on Commonwealth Avenue, which will provide a much better connection to the city than there is now, and Acton Waterfront to be a mixed use precinct of housing, shops, eateries and a high-end hotel, looking out to another great public park by the lake.
Commonwealth Park’s future is being seen as an integral part of this southern city expanse.
At this point, it is just a vision, but the NCA wants to excite imaginations and stimulate debate about what could be possible.
The outcome will hinge on the community reaction and, more importantly, on what public funding is available to make whatever is decided happen
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has welcomed the document, particularly as it confirms the location of the new aquatic centre, but says funding will be a matter for budgetary processes for both governments, particularly the Commonwealth.
He is already eyeing a partnership with the Commonwealth on the permanent Floriade infrastructure because the temporary staging costs the ACT millions every year.
Mr Barr said staging more events and investing in the infrastructure to make it a better place for people would help the park be seen as a place for all Canberrans and Australians.
But there would necessarily be trade-offs around the cost, and that would be up to the Commonwealth.
“It won’t all happen overnight, it will need to be done progressively, but we think it is a really positive step forward and we hope the community embraces many of the ideas contained within the vision plan,” Mr Barr said.
“But there’s a lot more detail that will then need to be worked through in the coming months and years.”
It will also depend on a federal government that values the national capital and what it stands for.
