‘I can’t stand it anymore’: Lutwyche laneway unit block owner says she’s selling up

A Brisbane woman whose bedroom is metres away from a skinny bitumen “pathway” now used by more than 420 cars a day says the stress has forced her to sell up. You won’t believe what council has told her about what speed limit actually applies.

Lutwyche resident Shelley Threlfall, 64, at her East St apartment block. She says she now has no choice but to sell the block of units, after having issues with the pathway at the side of the block being used as a through-road. The noise is unbearable, and it's dangerous, she says.

THE owner of a Lutwyche unit block — who says she has been living a “waking nightmare” due to a pathway meters from her bedroom window being used as a 24-7 rat run — has put the property on the market.

Shelley Threlfall, 64, told City North News that her health had deteriorated due to the stressful conditions.

“I just can’t stand it any more,” she said last week. “I have no choice but to sell.”

Ms Threlfall lives in one of the ground-floor units and rents out the other four apartments for between $265 and $305 a week.

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Inquiries by News found the pathway, sandwiched between her fence line and the rear of 461/473 Lutwyche Rd, was a public road and that anyone had the right to use it. Ms Threlfall said she was shattered by that finding, as it meant there was likely to be no reprieve from constant noise and fumes coming from the 2.6m-wide bitumen strip.

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Lutwyche resident Shelley Threfall, 64, at her East St apartment block. She says she now has no choice but to sell the block of units, after having issues with the pathway at the side of the block being used as a thru-road. The noise is unbearable, and it's dangerous, she says.

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“The East Street laneway is classified as road reserve and any motorist is able to use it to access adjoining properties,” a Brisbane City Council spokesman said.

She said she had pleaded with Council to close the pathway to through traffic or at least post 5km/hr speed signs, as she lived in constant fear of dangerous drivers. A car smashed through her fence and into her front yard last month.

A Brisbane City Council letter to Ms Threlfall, cited this week by the News, states a traffic survey found about one car every three minutes drove down the pathway. It also said a 5km/hr traffic speed sign would not be installed, as Ms Threlfall requested, nor would the road be closed.

“The traffic survey had been completed with an average of 426 vehicles per day using the laneway and 85 per cent of vehicles travelling at or below 15km/h, highlighting speeding is not an issue,” the letter said.

“The traffic volumes are consistent with the lane’s function to provide access to businesses at 461 Lutwyche Road and that under Council’s Brisbane City Plan 2014, laneways can accommodate up to 750 vehicles per day.

“Considering the results, there are no plans to install additional signage on the laneway.

“If Council were to install speed limit signage, it would only be to reinforce the default speed limit on Queensland Roads which is 50km/h.

“There is no provision under Queensland traffic regulations for a 5km/h speed limit.”

City North News Shelley Threlfall says that a paved area next to her block of units at 15 East St, Lutwyche, is a pathway, not a road. But council says it’s a public road. Picture: Amanda Horswill

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Ms Trelfall said she bought the East St property a decade ago when the “pathway” — as it appears on official maps — was a dead-end lane. However, some time in the past six years, the line of trees at the end of the pathway had been removed and a driveway connected, creating a through-road to High St, which is a one-way road that flows to Lutwyche Rd. The gym, Fitness First, recently went to 24-7 operation, and patrons access the gym’s undercover car park via East St and the lane.

Ear plugs on Lutwyche resident Shelley Threlfall’s hall table. She says she even uses them during the day so she can dampen the constant noise.

A pile of letters to be sent to Brisbane City Council, on Shelley Threlfall’s hall table.

Ms Threlfall said the property could be a great Airbnb, if the buyer decided not to develop.

“If I was a younger person, that’s what I would do.”

An RP Data search shows the East St property went on the market in November, with a starting price of $1.95 million, which was recorded as “submit offers” on February 2.

Marketing for the property stated that there were three one-bedroom units and two two-bedroom units in the complex, which was on 779sqm of land.

Coincidentally, the neighbouring building housing Fitness First, Telstra and Ladbrokes, at 461/473 Lutwyche Rd, is also for sale. Expressions of interest closed on November 8. The 1850 sqm property last sold in 2015 for $22.5 million.

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