Residents plead with minister to reject Ballymore office plan

Plans to build more than 20,000sqm of office space at Brisbane’s “spiritual home’’ of rugby have angered local residents.

Some Herston residents are concerned about commercial offices planned for Ballymore by the QRU.

Plans to build more than 20,000 sqm of office space at Ballymore, the “spiritual home’’ of rugby, have angered some residents who fear their streets will again be choked with cars.

But Queensland Rugby Union insists the fears are unfounded and its proposed staged development will actually enhance a neglected section of Butterfield St at Herston in Brisbane’s inner north.

It says most residents are supportive, but concedes there are some concerns about on-street parking which is scarce due to demand from staff and patients at nearby Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Public consultation is open until the end of the month. The QRU notified immediate neighbours late last year of its intentions.

Shane Kennedy scores in the Easts vs. UQ premiership match at Ballymore last year. The home of rugby is being upgraded, but not everyone is happy. Picture: Richard Gosling

Earlier this year it also revealed a “slow demolition’’ of the existing McLean Stand, which will be replaced with a smaller stadium as part of a $30 million National Rugby Training Centre project.

Resident and town planner Steve Reynolds said while locals had no objection to the new training centre, he and others were alarmed at the scale of the commercial office space.

He claimed the total area would be 33,000 sqm, twice the size of a popular shopping precinct on nearby Newmarket Rd.

“Ballymore is situated in the book end of a residential, character suburb,’’ Mr Reynolds said.

“You have to drive past detached houses to get to it.

“This is why some years ago, when there were rugby games still being played, it was designated a special parking area.

Artist's' impression of the Ballymore redevelopment (left) and how the site now looks (right).

“That was (bearable) as it was just on game days. This is every day of the week.’’

He said the traffic report was flawed because it claimed users would be able to catch public transport, so lower inner-city levels of parking were acceptable.

About 428 car parking spaces are planned.

But there were only two buses an hour, he said, and Bowen Hills train station was more than 1km away.

A previous QRU plan in 2008 for about 8000 sqm of commercial space was scotched after neighbours successfully appealed it in the Planning and Environment Court.

The court reduced the allowable space to about 1000 sqm, which the QRU said was not viable.

The current proposal is a Ministerial Infrastructure Designation, which bypasses Council approvals and instead is decided on by Planning Minister Steven Miles.

Mr Reynolds said Dr Miles should reject the MID as he believed it did not meet “statutory obligations’’ — in other words, the QRU plan was not for essential infrastructure such as airports or sewerage plants.

He said the Minister should also reject the MID because the QRU could not provide justification for the need for so much commercial space, and it was not “budgeted’’ by the QRU.

He also said it was unlikely such a large amount of space could be filled by sporting or allied health users, such as physiotherapists.

But that was essential as all of Ballymore was a Deed of Grant in Trust, a type of State Government lease which in this case stipulated that Ballymore must be used solely for sport and recreational pursuits.

QRU spokesman Matt Horan said the argument was incorrect and it had legal advice that the proposal did meet all the requirements of a MID.