Dickson residents to weigh ACAT challenge to 246-apartment approval

The Dickson Residents Group will meet on 29 October to decide whether to take the Territory Planning Authority’s approval of 246 apartments in Stage 1 of Tradies’ Green at Dickson to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, after the group says more than 200 representations against the project went unresolved before the sign-off.

Why it matters

The Territory Planning Authority has approved the first stage of Tradies’ masterplan for its 1.8ha Dickson site, where the club holds the Crown lease. Stage 1 covers a six-storey building and a 13-storey tower holding 246 apartments above ground-floor commercial space, the first piece of a wider masterplan for seven buildings and 645 dwellings over what Tradies has said will be a seven to ten year build-out. The Dickson Residents Group says the approval went ahead while more than 200 representations on height, traffic and tree loss remained unaddressed. The meeting will decide whether that grievance goes to the tribunal. For other North Canberra proponents, it is an early read on whether residents will contest an approval at ACAT after it has cleared the authority.

The numbers

Stage 1 of Tradies’ Green at Dickson comprises 246 apartments across a six-storey building and a 13-storey tower, with ten commercial tenancies at ground level. The approved stage is the first of seven buildings planned for the site, which Tradies has masterplanned for 645 dwellings in total across the 1.8ha Dickson block. The Dickson Residents Group says the number of representations against the proposal that it considers unresolved exceeds 200, and lists height, traffic generation, loss of established trees and the demolition of an existing squash court among the impacts those representations raised. The club’s full build-out, covering the remaining six buildings beyond Stage 1, is planned to run seven to ten years, meaning the resident group’s response to this first approval is likely to set the tone for how the later stages are contested as they come forward.

What’s next

The Dickson Residents Group meets at Daramalan College at 6pm on 29 October, according to Region Canberra, to decide whether to lodge a challenge against the Territory Planning Authority’s approval at the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Group spokesperson Gene McGlynn told Region Canberra the decision “seems very confusing and has a lot of conditions”. Those conditions include offsetting tree removals with new plantings. Tradies considered building replacement squash courts but decided against it, the Canberra Times reported. The group has flagged height, traffic impact, tree loss and the demolition of an existing squash court among the grounds it is weighing. Until the group decides and, if it proceeds, until any tribunal hearing is listed, the Stage 1 approval stands and Tradies can progress toward construction of the first 246 apartments. The dispute lands in a Territory planning system already testing resident pushback against approved outcomes elsewhere in Canberra, including Englobo’s ACAT challenge over its Gungahlin 2030 precinct, a reminder that an approval from the Territory Planning Authority is increasingly only the first contest, not the last, for projects moving through the ACT system.