Highland Walloon developer Lennium Group blames Urban Utilities over development hold up

The developer of a 1000-lot residential estate in the growing western corridor says it will take southeast Queensland’s water authority to court over its ‘mismanagement’ of delivering key infrastructure.

The site of the Highland estate in Walloon, which is planned to include 1000 lots, a school and shopping centre, and (inset) sewerage infrastructure works in the area in 2019.

The developer of a major housing development in the growing western corridor claimed the project and up to 1000 construction jobs have been delayed for years because of the failure of southeast Queensland’s water authority to deliver key infrastructure.

Lennium Group says it intends to take Urban Utilities to court over the long-running stoush about water and sewerage infrastructure, which it claimed had only benefited a neighbouring estate in Ipswich.

The first stage of its Highland development in rural Walloon was given the green light in 2017, with a total of 140 lots now approved.

Developer Lennium Group has held approval for stage one of the development since 2017.

A total of 1000 lots, a neighbourhood shopping centre and a primary school are all planned for the development 15 minutes from the Ipswich CBD.

Lennium claimed an “extremely unusual” infrastructure agreement has resulted in $22 million in public money being spent and a further $4 million planned on infrastructure which so far has only benefited the Waterlea estate on its southern boundary.

The $350 million Waterlea estate, which has been developed by Sydney-based RBG Services, is currently on the market.

Lennium Group development manager Ian Worthington claimed Urban Utilities had only built a trunk sewerage service as far as the Waterlea development and his project had been “locked out” with a previous agreement not being honoured.

“We have a shovel ready project that is forecast to provide 450 direct jobs and 550 indirect jobs for this region over the life of the development,” he said.

“Despite every effort over the past five years to get reasonable and fair treatment from Urban Utilities, we have been consistently stymied and now intend to launch legal action against Urban Utilities and other parties involved.

“What makes this even more outrageous is that Lennium Group through one of our early projects actually built the first stage of the trunk sewer downstream that Waterlea is now benefiting from and that we’ve been locked out of.

Lennium Group development manager Ian Worthington.

“We already know that vital infrastructure such as water and wastewater is lagging behind new housing demand in some areas, which makes our situation even worse because the necessary infrastructure is already right on our doorstep.

“This is a very serious issue for our whole region. We have flagged our concerns with the state government and would be more than willing to work with them to ensure authorities such as Urban Utilities are not unnecessarily impeding land supply, affordable housing and job creation.”

The developer said once the infrastructure is in place, it could start construction within a “few months”.

About 42,000 people are expected to ultimately live in the corridor between Walloon and Rosewood west of Ipswich.

Urban Utilities’ stakeholders include Brisbane, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim, and Somerset councils, with Ipswich City Council holding a 12 per cent stake.

An Urban Utilities spokesperson said it was “working closely” with the two developers.

Sewerage infrastructure work being done in Walloon in 2019.

“Significant work has been carried out to construct around five kilometres of sewer pipe and a new sewage pump station to connect the area to the Rosewood Sewage Treatment Plant and to build major water infrastructure,” they said.

“It’s common for the developer that starts first in an area to build trunk water and sewerage infrastructure to service their development and the broader area, and they determine the construction stages and time frames.

“As this infrastructure will benefit the broader Walloon and Thagoona area, including other developments, Urban Utilities has contributed to the cost.

“We’re working closely with the neighbouring developer to bring forward construction of the final stage of the sewer pipe, which will provide an access point for Lennium Group to connect to the network.

“In the meantime, we’ve been speaking to Lennium Group about temporary solutions to enable them to proceed with their development while the final stage of the sewer pipe is constructed.”

RGB Services declined to comment.

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