Morningside residents want Brisbane City Council to stop townhouse development

A Brisbane neighbourhood wants Brisbane City Council to back its own plans to protect backyards and put in emergency protections to stop a townhouse development on their street.

An artist's impression of the proposed townhouses at Pockley St, Morningside. Picture: Supplied.

MORNINGSIDE residents want Brisbane City Council to back its own plans to protect their backyards as they wait for the much publicised townhouse ban to be approved.

On September 4, the council took the first step to making the townhouse ban a local law and on November 27 referred its proposed amendment to the State Government.

Amendments to the City Plan take up to 18 months from start to adoption, so townhouses and apartments can still be built in low density residential areas if they are on sites of 3000 sqm.

Morningside homeowner Ian Reid addressed last week’s council meeting about a development application for 16 townhouses on a low density site at Pockley St, Morningside.

The development made headlines in October when Opposition councillors used it as an example in calling for a Temporary Local Planning Instrument on all land zoned low density residential, preventing development of units until the amendments to City Plan are in force.

LNP councillors and The Greens Jonathan Sri voted it down.

Mr Reid told the chamber that he read that Brisbane’s Future Blueprint was “continuing to protect Brisbane’s backyards” in the November Living in Brisbane newsletter.

“Unless I’m missing something, it doesn’t appear to be protecting anything yet,” he said.

“So the application (at Pockley St) and others like it is now contrary to council’s stated intention for the future planning for Brisbane.

“We ask council to consider an interim stay on these types of applications while the legislative process is being finalised,” he said.

Later, Cr Kara Cook (Morningside) submitted a petition against the development with 189 signatures, and told the South-East Advertiser Pockley St was “exactly the type of development that Lord Mayor Graham Quirk promised to stop”.

“The Lord Mayor needs to take urgent action to genuinely protect backyards,” Cr Cook said.

City Planning chairman Matthew Bourke said council officers sent an information request to the developer on October 24 expressing concerns with bulk, design, scale and setbacks. Council received a response on Monday.

“My personal view of them is there’s very little change between the original plans that were loaded when I was looking at them this morning and the new plans that have gone up,” he said.

Cr Bourke said the council was “getting on with the job” to ban townhouses in low density residential zones but until it took effect the council had to assess such applications on merit.