To whom it may concern,
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to early stage consultation on a refreshed Southern Tasmanian Regional Land Use Strategy (STRLUS).
YIMBY Hobart was established to advocate for:
Housing abundance: More housing of all types where people want to live.
A city for people at all ages and stages, of all means and abilities: Our city and suburbs should reflect the diversity of the community as a whole.
Better access for everyone: Being an active participant in our city should not rely on owning a car.
Given these goals, we are very interested in seeing the STRLUS live up to its purpose of “guid[ing] land use and development in the long term”. We do not believe the current strategy has effectively guided development in southern Tasmanian, and has failed to achieve the goals set out in Section 4, notably SD2, SD3, SD6 and SD8. We hope a refreshed strategy can improve on this record, by making a case for change, setting a clear strategic direction and establishing targets and accountability mechanisms.
To develop this submission, YIMBY Hobart hosted a structured community conversation event with 12 people in attendance. Attendees were broken up into two groups, with each group given three of the six subject areas to discuss. After 30 minutes, groups swapped subject areas, ensuring all attendees were able to consider each policy area.
Attendees then voted on issues they believed were most important in each subject area. The outputs of this process are summarised below. The butcher’s paper sheets used in the exercise can be found at the end of this document.
Finally, this submission was shared with the core YIMBY Hobart supporter group, roughly 20 people, who made several additional suggestions, which were incorporated into the final submission.
The subject areas covered in the conversation guide are presented in order below. Note responses have been grouped into their high-level subject areas for simplicity. Many of the opportunities and challenges identified by the group are interrelated, and cut across the subject areas - some repetition was unavoidable where this was the case.
Climate change
Attendees were of the view the two major issues associated with climate change the STRLUS should address are:
Physical disaster risks, such as increased fire and flood risk. Attendees highlighted that these risks are greater on the urban fringe, where housing and infrastructure is more likely to be built in or near bushland.
Equity issues, such as increased insurance premiums in disaster prone areas and reduced access to services during emergencies. Attendees noted residents in peri-urban areas were often lower income than inner-city residents, and are more likely to be exposed to these economic and social issues than wealthier residents.
The group felt an increased focus on medium-density and infill development in existing built-up areas would go some way to alleviating these problems, by limiting residents’ exposure to natural disasters and eliminating discrepancies in insurance coverage and service provision.
Natural environment
Attendees were of the view the three major issues associated with the natural environment the STRLUS should address are:
Stopping the loss of woodland and grassland habitat to residential development on the urban fringe.
Improving the uptake and quality of water-sensitive development in and around the region’s waterways. Attendees noted improved water-sensitive design of green and open spaces could improve both public safety and amenity.
Bringing nature into the city by increasing tree and plant cover in built-up areas.
As you might expect, many group members noted that more medium-density and infill development would help to address these issues. For example, fewer, taller residential buildings increases the amount of land available for use as open space, while limiting the need for land-clearing on the urban fringe.
Economy
Attendees were of the view the three major issues associated with the region’s economy the STRLUS should address are:
Improving accessibility of commercial areas by improving footpaths, building bike lanes and improving public transport provision. Attendees were of the strong view that our current car-centric transport system is an impediment to increased economic activity, particularly in the case of small businesses.
Improving retention of young people by ensuring the central city is an attractive and exciting place to live. Group members highlighted Hobart’s lack of higher density affordable housing close to services as contributing to the lack of street life in the central city.
Maintaining Hobart’s unique natural assets, such as kunanyi, both for tourism and to continue attracting people to live in Hobart. Attendees highlighted that Hobart is relatively unique in the accessibility and proximity of wild places, and that this represents a competitive advantage in attracting new residents.
Once again, the group emphasised the importance of increased density and improved accessibility to addressing many of Hobart’s economic challenges. One attendee made a particular note of the lost productivity associated with time spent in traffic, and the opportunity to free this time up for productive or recreational use by improving active and public transport provision.
Transport
Attendees were of the view the three major issues associated with the region’s transport system the STRLUS should address are:
Improved active transport connectivity to key services. The group was strongly of the view that improving active transport links to sites such as schools and town/activity centres is the quickest and easiest way to encourage mode-shift, given these trips are often short in distance but can be long in duration.
Better colocation of services and housing. Several attendees noted many Hobart suburbs have very limited local service provision, requiring residents to drive to access basic commercial, social and administrative needs. Increased medium-density and infill development means more people live close to the services they require on a daily basis, reducing the need for car trips.
Better use of limited road space on main thoroughfares. Many of Hobart’s major arterial roads still incorporate significant roadside parking, even during peak periods. Freeing up this space for active or public transport provision (i.e. bus lanes on Macquarie and Davey St) would significantly improve the overall utility of these major roads.
The group was unanimous in its view that Hobart requires a major rethink in the way people access and move through the city. Continued overreliance on private motor vehicles is both inefficient from a land-use and throughput perspective, and is harming the liveability and productivity of our city.
Population
Attendees were of the view the two major issues associated with the region’s population growth and change the STRLUS should address are:
Improved central business and activity centres. Hobart’s current low-density development pattern makes the provision of services difficult. Services that are limited by this lack of density range from specialty retail, to public transport, to arts and entertainment facilities. As the population grows and ages, these services will become more important. Planning for well connected central business and activity centres, with ample medium-density residential development nearby, will ensure southern Tasmania is an attractive and welcoming place for both new arrivals, and existing residents as they age.
A wider range of housing types developed in more areas. The group noted that a growing and aging population poses a particular challenge, in that many older people live in houses better suited to larger families, but lack options to downsize to a dwelling that still provides good amenity. This challenge is also an opportunity if we can build more, smaller and diverse housing types located close to services, creating an attractive downsizing option for older people and freeing up larger houses for current or new Tasmanian families.
In addition to the above, the group was strongly supportive of the STRLUS setting enforceable targets for dwelling construction across the region’s LGAs. The Victorian Government has recently announced dwelling construction targets for Melbourne’s LGAs, with a focus on transport connectivity and access to services. The current STRLUS has failed to influence the distribution of housing construction in the region, we expect the new Strategy to do better.
Housing
Attendees were of the view that the major issue associated with the region’s housing needs the STRLUS should address is increasing the number of medium-density and infill developments in existing suburbs close to amenity and services. The group was strongly of the view that stopping the outward creep of Hobart’s urban boundaries, and concentrating new residential development in well-serviced suburbs, is the key to addressing many of the issues raised in the State of Play report.
Attendees raised several ideas for how the STRLUS can increase the pace and scale of medium-density development, including increased high-limits, a wider range of no-permit residential development types, more flexible central business and activity centre zoning, and instituting more restrictive zoning on the urban fringe. Many of these issues are covered in YIMBY Hobart’s submission on the Tasmanian Government’s Improving Residential Standards in Tasmania draft report, which can be found at: yimbyhobart.org/post/yimby-hobart-submission-improving-residential-standards-in-tasmania
Thank you again for the opportunity to contribute to this process, and for your work on this important issue. We look forward to the next stage in the strategy development process and our continued engagement in future consultation.
YIMBY Hobart
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