Birkdale land: Greens want public consultation and assessment
As negotiations over the future of an 80 hectare parcel of Commonwealth land at Birkdale begin, there are fresh calls for public consultation and a full assessment of the site.
Redlands Coast
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Greens candidate for Bowman Emerald Moon has called for “appropriate, comprehensive assessments” of 80 hectares of Commonwealth land that is expected to become Redland City Council property.
Following news last week that council had entered into formal negotiations regarding the sale or gifting of land at 362-388 and 392 Old Cleveland Rd East, Birkdale, Ms Moon said “we will need to keep them (council) under the microscope and make sure they keep their recent promises”.
“I don’t think any development should take place at the land until appropriate, comprehensive assessments and meaningful public consultation have been undertaken,” Ms Moon said.
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Redland Mayor Karen Williams said last week, following discussions in Canberra about the sale or gifting of the land to Council, that if “Council was successful in acquiring the land they would ask the community what they thought the best use of the land was”.
“Our priority is to save it from being used for housing; after that we will ask the community what they would like to see done with the land while committing to protecting the environmental and heritage values of the property,” she said.
Ms Moon said Mayor Williams and Andrew Laming (Bowman MP) had “both promised the land will not be used for any type of housing or accommodation, and Mr Laming has said there is no proposal for a university on the site”.
“Mayor Williams says she wants Council to acquire the land for “educational facilities, recreational uses, environmental corridors”.
Ms Moon said she supported residents’ calls for the land to be designated as a national park to formally protect it.
“If the land is to be transferred to Council, I will be keeping a close eye on the issue to ensure that Laming and Council’s previous commitments are honoured and the community is kept up to date with any proposals for the land,” she said.
“With increasing rampant development in the Redlands, we’ve already seen governments at all levels enable the loss of significant environmental, cultural and historic sites.”
“That makes it all the more important to protect those that remain, so the Greens and I will be pushing for guarantees that all appropriate cultural, historic and environmental assessments be undertaken before there are any changes to the holding and usage of the land.”
The Birkdale land divestment, currently being managed by the Department of Finance, was slated in last year’s Federal budget to be sold to developers to build 400 homes prompting community, Council and the State Government to call on the Commonwealth to sell or gift the land to the local community.
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