Symonston man says his community is being overlooked

The Canberra Times

Leon Andrews is one of 93 residents who live in established, free-standing homes in Symonston. But they can't get access to the ACT Government's interest-free loan scheme to make their homes more energy-efficient

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00:00I'm heading there and looking at it, but I won't look.

00:30Yeah, I've lived here now for 21 years.

00:35I moved in here and redid the whole place inside and out and made myself comfortable.

00:42I've carried out extensions and it's worked very well.

00:47There's an active social group in the park.

00:51We have our own committee of residents and that's what we are.

00:56We're just residents. We own our own homes.

01:01We lease the land and being a leasehold state, you know, there's different packages that sort of give you various options.

01:09But we all look after our own homes and as far as moving, there's no way these houses are going to move.

01:19Even the new houses that came in here, they're only given a 12 month warranty in case of sinkage maybe or something like that.

01:28But there was no warranty whatsoever after 12 months for moving it.

01:33So it wasn't a portable home. It was a transportable.

01:36It was pre-constructed offsite and moved in with the intent that it wasn't going to be moved.

01:43We are a residential village. We also have motels here as well.

01:57And there's a lot of confusion about our history and it comes down to, I think, a mis-entry in a database.

02:06We've been called a caravan park. We've been called a retirement village.

02:11And the list goes on. We're even called crossroads.

02:15And I got that from a solar distributor down in Melbourne.

02:19So, you know, there's just so much wrong with the way here.

02:23This is our home. We've made it our home. We live here.

02:35People have been here longer than me.

02:37And houses went in in about 95. I think the first homes went in.

02:42And that's it. We've got our own residence association.

02:46And we all enjoy and get on with each other and help each other.

02:50And that's it. There's no way you're going to move this place.

02:53It's just, it is a home.

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