End zone own goal, planners and builders urge ACT govt

Canberra should scrap zoning laws which only allow detached housing, a new coalition of interest groups has said. Picture by Megan Dingwall

A coalition of housing advocates, community organisations and urban planners has called on the ACT government to ditch rules that limit suburbs to detached housing and instead allow more townhouses and terraces in Canberra.

The Missing Middle Canberra group - which includes the housing advocacy group Greater Canberra, along with the YWCA, urban planning consulting firm Purdon and the Master Builders ACT - wants all areas currently limited to detached housing to allow townhouses, duplexes, terraces and small blocks of flats.