Ferny Grove Upper Kedron Neighbourhood Plan adopted
A CONTROVERSIAL neighbourhood plan has finally been adopted after years as a political football. But not before the State Government forced three final changes.
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A CONTROVERSIAL neighbourhood plan has finally been adopted after years as a political football but not before the State Government forced three final changes.
The Ferny Grove Upper Kedron Neighbourhood Plan was approved by Brisbane City Council last September but still needed the greenlight from the State Government.
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said it was “good to see this finally finished after what has been a disgraceful period of political plays”.
State Development Cameron Dick has imposed three ministerial conditions on the plan.
They are changes to bushfire hazard mapping; inclusion of the Cedar Woods Regional Ecosystem map in the plan; and an emergency services and public and active transport access road to Mt Nebo Rd.
Councillor Steven Toomey (The Gap) said the council had “fought tooth and nail” for some “big wins” in the plan but he did not support any of the ministerial conditions.
“The preservation of the topography, reductions in cut and fill and reductions in density, they’re the things that I voted for and that we’ve really fought for,” he said.
He said the bushfire mapping removed low and medium risk areas and made it look as if “bushfires at Upper Kedron do stop at the fence line”.
He said the 20m wide road corridor was “the size of a cricket pitch” but emptied onto to Mt Nebo Rd, which was only 6m long and had no kerb and channelling.
He said The Gap residents did not want it and Upper Kedron residents could not even use it.
He said the road would cut through an environmental corridor, that alternate routes provided quicker access for emergency services and residents could not even use it.
“It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Cr Toomey said the ecosystem map had the potential to reduce biodiversity in the area, as the planting map mandated planting fig trees or grass along waterways and environment corridors.
“When this went out to the community, the residents were asking me, ‘what are the koalas going to eat? They don’t eat figs’,” he said.
A State Development spokeswoman said the Queensland Government had put bushfire safety “at the centre” of its review of the plan.
“The condition imposed by the Minister was based on advice from the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, in conjunction with the Queensland Herbarium, to identify a range of native species that are fire-retardant/low fire-risk, to be used to revegetate the environmental corridors proposed by Brisbane City Council,” she said.
She said the potential active transport link was the council’s own emergency access road, and Minister Dick had asked the council to consider using it for active transport, such as cycling and walking.
Opposition planning spokesman Jared Cassidy said the neighbourhood plan has been a sorry saga for the community.
“It’s shown this Council’s develop at all costs approach to planning,” he said.
“It shouldn’t take hundreds of residents rising up to make Council listen to their concerns. In this case they’ve largely ignored submissions anyway. “
The debate on the plan dredged up years of the political dogfighting that started when the council approved Cedar Woods development in 2014.
Cooper MP Kate Jones pledged to call in as an election promise in 2015 over concerns the council had allowed it was too many dwellings for the area.
After it was called in April 2015, the State Government approved the first stage of the development but order that council create a neighbourhood plan for the area.
The council submitted its amendments in January 2017 but in April the State Government replied with a request to increase the number of lots on the plan from 980 to 1500.
The State Government backflipped on the decision in May after a outraged community response to the increased density.
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