Lake users must agree to footbridge: committee
Updated
A federal parliamentary committee has recommended a footbridge proposed for Lake Burley Griffin not go ahead unless an agreement with other lake users can be reached.
The proposed bridge would span the west basin of the lake, linking the National Museum of Australia with the Parliamentary Zone.
The group behind the proposed project want the footbridge to commemorate Australia's migration history.
The report by the National Capital Committee has not given a definitive outcome for the project's future.
Instead it has recommended the proponent, Immigration Bridge Australia, change its proposal so it can be agreed upon by other lake users such as sailing and cycling groups.
It also recommends that heritage issues relating to the site of the bridge be resolved.
The report says that if these challenges are not met, the proponent should change the proposed location of the bridge or consider another way to commemorate migration.
Immigration Bridge Australia - a not-for-profit group - has been selling plaques for the bridge's handrail for $110 each to help fund the project.
Committee chair ACT Senator Kate Lundy says selling the plaques before the project is approved has caused confusion.
"People have presumed it's going ahead because they're selling that space. That's not the case," she said.
Senator Lundy says the group needs to have a clear refund policy in case the bridge is not approved by the National Capital Authority.
"They need to be up front with people making the investment that it may not go ahead," she said.
She has warned the group to take the committee's recommendations into account before lodging a development application to build the bridge.
Topics: urban-development-and-planning, parliament, canberra-2600, act
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