Gympie locals furious as koala habitat destroyed at Southside and Pie Creek

Land clearing near Gympie to make way for new housing estates has been taking place in what local residents believe is koala habitat, and is driving tensions and frustrations over how to balance environment protection with progress.

The clearing of more than 20ha of Southside and Pie Creek land in recent months continues to drive questions and frustrations over environmental protection in an area long identified as Gympie’s growth corridor.

Southside resident Krystal White is one of the voices raising concerns about the land clearing, which has happened on a number of blocks west of the city.

“I’m seeing koala habitat being destroyed … it’s quite sad,” Ms White said.

Ms White said she would often see koalas and wildlife in her neck of the woods.

The clearing meant she was no longer aware of whether they were still alive or where they had moved to.

Southside resident Krystal White outside one of the recently cleared blocks of land west of the city, which she said has been home to koalas.

For her efforts so far she had been met with radio silence from the Gympie Regional Council.

She had also drawn the ire of one anonymous neighbour who left a letter criticising her decision to speak out about land clearing in her mailbox.

It has not deterred her from pushing for more protection.

“I know development is going to happen … but it needs to be responsibly and sustainably,” she said.

The question of balance was one the council itself has failed to answer for the area, marked for years as Gympie’s future growth hub.

Large parts of the Southside were identified by Gympie Regional Council as potential home for housing with densities up to 20 dwellings per hectare.

A structure plan for the Southside endorsed by the council in November 2016 outlined an area stretching from Stumm Rd to north of McIntosh Creek Rd as designated future urban residential.

The plan established housing density ranging from eight to 20 dwellings per hectare.

It estimated the Southside would accommodate 1200 new houses by 2036.

This will account for almost half the “urban area’s expected overall growth” of 2550 new houses in that period.

More than 20ha of land has reportedly been cleared since March.

The plan included an environmental corridor of land running through the Southside from south of Groundwater Rd to Eel Creek Rd, with another patch around Stumm and Glastonbury Rds.

The area was later subject to one of two Temporary Local Planning Instruments brought in by the council in February 2020 and controversially removed in December that same year.

The move triggered an environmental protest outside Town Hall.

Land recently been cleared at Pie Creek. The property in question has been granted development approval by the council for a subdivision.

Bu landowners said the TLPIs stopped them from building on their own land without first incurring thousands of dollars in costs for environmental reports, and obliterated the value of the properties.

A council report recommending the removal of the TLPIs said, among other unintended consequences for land owners and developers, the TLPIs did not take into account the intention for the Southside to be Gympie’s “major urban growth area”.

Most of the Southside and Pie Creek is zoned rural residential and residential in the town plan.

Removal of the TLPIs also sparked a Change.org petition calling for Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon to overturn the decision.

The petition has attracted more than 44,000 signatures from around the world but neither minister has intervened.

In late July, Wide Bay Burnett Environment Council regional engagement co-ordinator Mike Moller told the ABC about 20ha of land had been cleared across six blocks since March.

There has been no allegation of illegal clearing.

Mayor Glen Hartwig said the council wants to balance residential and environmental demands.

Mayor Glen Hartwig says the council is working to deliver a balance for housing and the environment in a region where finding suitable land for housing is “rarer than hen’s teeth”.

“Finding suitable land for residential development in Gympie is like finding hen’s teeth,” Mr Hartwig said.

He said the Southside was identified by previous councils as the growth centre because of its proximity to water and sewerage connections.

“Former councils spend ratepayers funds developing and identifying those places as key (development) areas,” he said.

Queensland State environment mapping does not list extensive koala habitat at the Southside.

Opening up developments further out, or on already open agricultural land, would cost the council – and ratepayers – significantly to deliver those services, he said.

The council has created a new Biodiversity and Koala Habitat Development Strategy Reference group in the wake of the TLPIs’ repeal.

A large proportion of land on the Southside is not recognised as koala habitat under the State Government’s environmental mapping.

The controversial repeal of two planning policies sparked protests outside the Town Hall in December 2020.Pictures: Kristen Camp

A State Environment Department spokesman said land clearing in Gympie, including areas marked as essential habitat, was regulated under the Vegetation Management Act 1999.

“Landholders are advised to contact their local council or the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Local Government and Planning to check whether State approval is required for vegetation clearing,” he said.

“Community groups can engage with their local councils to advocate for the protection of important local sites through inclusion in planning schemes or through reservations, covenants and other forms of protected tenure.”

The State Government’s koala conservation strategy is limited to the southeast, stretching across the Sunshine Coast and Noosa but stopping before Gympie.

Clearing on residential land is a council matter.

Ms White said she was “hopeful” the council would step up to the plate “so there isn’t mass clearing that isn’t unregulated”.