Car Park Appeal

Background: In 2023, the LCA took the ACT Government to ACAT (the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal) due to its failure to uphold its own laws in regard to the car park used by Brindabella Christian College (BCC). The car park was built without development approval, breached the sublease BCC had over that part of Lyneham Neighbourhood Oval, and contravened the zoning rules under the Territory Plan. ACAT ordered the closure of the car park in December 2023. In early 2024, BCC lodged an appeal against ACAT’s decision in the Supreme Court, and at the same time gained an injunction which allowed for the continued operation of the car park until resolution of the appeal.

The LCA was unable to commit to taking part in the appeal because of the potential prohibitive costs. Instead, the Government of the day was successfully lobbied to appoint an experienced Barrister as ‘friend of the court’ who would provide the court with arguments to contradict the appellant.

Appeal

After many delays, the appeal in the Supreme Court was heard on Tuesday 4 February 2026, with the new owners of BCC, Christian Community Ministries (CCM) taking over the appeal from BCC.

The hearing took one morning, and the judge reserved his decision. To our lay observer, the CCM arguments were pretty flimsy, and expertly dealt with by the friend of the court. Of course, we won’t know how convinced the judge was until he hands down his decision at some as yet unknown date.

We will let you know the outcome in due course.

Possible outcomes

It’s not terribly clear what possibilities the judge has. Those options were disputed by the parties in the appeal. Could the matter be sent back to ACAT (if errors in law are found)? Could the judge grant CCM what they ask for (more time to get approvals, etc)? Could the judge make other orders?

Whatever the appeal outcome, CCM says they have already lodged a Territory Plan Variation (TPV) request. Though not yet public, the zone change if accepted will presumably allow for the land to be used for a car park, but may also allow the construction of more school buildings. If the TPV is approved CCM will then go through the development application process to make a legal car park.

A question for you

All parties agree that the car park was built illegally, but what should happen to it now? Do you think the car park should be closed and returned to oval status (with the school required to make other transport options available to staff and students), are you content that the car park stay as is as long as the school gets planning approval for it, or do you think that the car park can stay but must be modified to meet current design standards and improve pedestrian safety as a condition of getting planning approval?

Once the TPV goes out for public consultation, there will be limited time in which to comment.

If you have a view, please complete this brief survey at tiny.cc/carpark26, so LCA can be guided by its members:

Clean Up Australia Day, 1 March 2026, Lyneham Wetlands 9:30 to 11:30 am

The LCA is again hosting a clean-up of litter around the Wetlands and along Sullivans Creek. It is particularly important to clean up this area to prevent litter from polluting the waterway which eventually ends up in Lake Burley Griffin. Surveys from past clean up days has found that fortunately there has been a reduction in thrown-away bottles and cans and take-away containers due to new government regulations but there is still a lot of soft plastics being dumped – and we don’t want the numerous birds around the wetlands mistakenly eating plastics!

Everyone is welcome to attend. Just come and register at our stall next to Goodwin Street. Gloves and bags are provided.

Call For Volunteers

Light Up Lyneham runs on the valuable assistance of volunteers. Although we have a small, experienced team, there are no paid staff. Almost 100 volunteers helped out last year.

If you’d like to be involved in bringing this year’s event to fruition, please let us know. You can register online, or email lightuplyneham@lyneham.org.au.

We’ll find a task to your liking, either on the day, or beforehand.

We’d love your help.

North Lyneham Community Pantry

One of our marvellous members (Heidi) has started a free community pantry in North Lyneham to help feed and support locals.

A community pantry to help feed our neighbours, reduce food waste, swap crop and support each other in solidarity.   https://www.facebook.com/share/1Zg9KDzX6x/ @NorthLynehamPantry on Instagram.

Located opposite North Lyneham Shops on Cossington Smith Crescent, in the green space, centrally nestled in a discrete location

Indian Mynas

A note from another member (Jamie):

In recent weeks I’ve noticed a large number of Indian myna birds in north O’Connor and Lyneham. The exotic Indian Myna bird is is on the World Conservation Union’s list of 100 most invasive species and is a major pest in the ACT. By killing native chicks, taking over nesting hollows and preying on skinks and rare and endangered insects they are a significant risk to our wildlife. Their raucous calls, messy roosts, nests in roof spaces, displacement of native birds and their fouling of backyards cause a major loss of public amenity. If these pests are in your street you can take action with information from the Canberra Indian Myna Action Group https://indianmynaaction.org.au/what-you-can-do/ to reduce the number of these birds in your yard. Further, you can get traps through the Group that will quickly and easily capture these invaders for humane disposal.

FREE leaf bags for Canberrans!

When leaves, grass clippings and other organic material wash off hard surfaces into stormwater drains, they send excess nutrients into our waterways. That runoff contributes to blue‑green algal blooms in our lakes and wetlands.

Grab a free, reusable leaf bag to collect fallen leaves from your nature strip, driveway, footpath and gutters.

Use the leaves to enrich your compost, leaf tower or garden beds. Or place them in your green bin so they can be mulched and turned into nutrient‑rich soil conditioners for Canberra.

By keeping leaves out of stormwater drains, you’re helping your garden thrive and protecting our waterways. A limited number of bags are available. Please register via the form on our webpage here: https://www.act.gov.au/environment/water/healthy-waterways-program

Gazebo and table for loan

New members