Sunshine Coast light rail: Council’s mass transit report keeps light rail option on the table despite opposition

Sunshine Coast Council officers have recommended steaming ahead with a light rail option on the table for mass transit, angering key community groups.

Council officers recommend steaming ahead with a light rail option still on the table for the region after what has been described as a “pick your poison” consultation process.

Sunshine Coast councillors will meet on October 20 for a special meeting to discuss mass transit with council officers recommending endorsement of the recently-released Mass Transit Options Analysis report.

Officers have also recommended councillors agree to refer the options analysis to the state government to proceed with a detailed business case as well as lodge documents with Infrastructure Australia to seek inclusion on the body’s 2022 Infrastructure Priority List.

Almost 800 pages of documents were released last week ahead of the October 20 meeting, with the cost to produce the options analysis having surpassed $4.7m to-date, funded over three years via the council’s Transport Levy.

Council officers made clear in their report to councillors they were not seeking to determine the mode of transport that would be used nor the final route.

Five transport options were recommended to proceed to a detailed business case.

They included light rail, trackless tram, wireless light rail, bus rapid transit and a quality bus corridor with low or zero-emission buses.

Mass Transit Action Group member Mark Attwell last week described the process as a “pick your poison” consultancy session and said he feared the community’s wishes to have light rail removed as an option would be ignored.

Questions had been raised about how much information would be made public on the public consultation process undertaken.

A 35-page engagement report by Articulous on the community engagement was included in the documents released publicly.

The findings released stated 68 per cent of survey respondents believed it was important to have a good mass transit system.

But opposition to the proposed route outweighed support.

More than 3800 survey responses were received with more than half of respondents residents within the urban corridor and almost 1500 people were engaged with face to face the findings state.

Detailed survey results revealed 36 per cent of respondents were “very dissastisfied” with the public transport master plan while only 16 per cent were “very satisfied”.

There was disagreement with the proposed alignment too, with 48 per cent of respondents answering “no” when asked whether the proposed first stage of mass transit connected to the right locations, as opposed to 38 per cent who answered “yes”.

Forty-five per cent of respondents expressed negative sentiment when asked what benefits or impacts a light rail system would have.

“Light rail received the lowest number of positive sentiments and the highest number of negative sentiment statements,” the Articulous report states.

The results found 79 per cent of participants in the survey lived or worked on the Sunshine Coast with almost 70 per cent of respondents having lived in the region for a decade or more.

The findings also state the feedback was skewed with most respondents over 50, but that was balanced with engagement activities aimed at gauging the views of younger people in the area.

The finalised options analysis report noted further consideration of some issues would be needed as part of a detailed business case assessment.

They included the investigation of potential alternative routes in the Alexandra Headland section and the need for the future system to provide improved access to events, venues and athletes’ accommodation sites identified in the region as part of the 2032 Olympics.

The report states stage one of the mass transit system should be “targeted to commence in 2027” with the second stage extension to Caloundra to follow “as soon as possible”, while the state government continued its planning for delivery of the Camcos heavy rail connection.

Mr Attwell said all the polling undertaken by the Mass Transit Action Group had indicated an “overwhelming rejection” of light rail.

Mr Attwell said they were concerned about what material councillors would be presented with.

“If this gets up it overwhelmingly changes the face of the whole Sunshine Coast,” Mr Attwell said.

He said the council should be up front about its intention to push for light rail even if the community’s wishes were against it.

“It (consultation on options) was just pick your poison, which poison do you prefer,” Mr Attwell said.

“Everyone’s overwhelming support is for Camcos.”

Mass Transit Action Group founder Tracey Goodwin-McDonald and residents, as well as The Beach Matters, had been vocal on the mass transit plans.

The action group also questioned whether 1000 submissions from residents it handed in had been considered adequately.

A statement released by the council late last week said councillors would meet next month to consider whether to endorse the report for referral to the state government for further investigation, as well as Infrastructure Australia.

The statement made clear the state government was “ultimately responsible for the public transport network”.

“Importantly, councillors are not being asked to vote for a preferred option or options, the final route, committing to any investment or funding decision relating to a potential mass transit solution, or committing to, or progressing, any amendments to the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014,” the statement read.

“Further community engagement on all aspects of the Sunshine Coast Mass Transit Project will be part of the detailed business case stage, led by the state government.”

Division 4 councillor Joe Natoli made public his concerns about the process.

He said he felt the community had still not been given the opportunity to make a decision on whether or not it supported density increases along the coastal strip from Maroochydore to Caloundra.