West Belconnen Strategic Assessment - Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate - Environment

West Belconnen Strategic Assessment

Gooromon Grasslands Offset Areas map
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Associated Developments: West Belconnen Urban Development (Ginninderry), Lawson South Residential Development and Macgregor West 2 Residential Estate Development

Commonwealth approval: Strategic assessment of the West Belconnen Project

Three separate Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) approval decisions are linked through the consolidation of three offset areas within the Gooromon Grasslands. These are:

Length of West Belconnen Strategic Assessment approval: 30 June 2067. Following this date, the offset areas will be incorporated into the Canberra Nature Park.

Where are the West Belconnen offset areas?

The project area for the strategic assessment straddles the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and New South Wales (NSW) border, encompassing land west of the Canberra suburbs of Holt, Higgins, and Macgregor through to the Murrumbidgee River, and between Stockdill Drive and Ginninderra Creek.

Within this assessment, the ACT Parks and Conservation Service (PCS) manages Gooromon Grasslands offset areas.

Why is it an offset?

The West Belconnen Strategic Assessment was conducted to assess the impacts of the proposed urban development in the West Belconnen area on listed threatened species and ecological communities, listed migratory species and any other protected matters that may be present.

The West Belconnen Strategic Assessment has conservation objectives concerning Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES), protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Specifically:

Canberra Raspy Cricket (Cooraboorama canberrae)
Canberra Raspy Cricket (Cooraboorama canberrae)

Other MNES present on the sites include:

Management

Monitoring and research reports

Find out more about monitoring and research in ACT Environmental Offsets.

More information