Political parties trade barbs over two-tower residential project next to Davies Park in West End

A massive twin-tower project near a popular Brisbane park has sparked claims of hypocrisy and poor planning after 600 locals lodged formal complaints.

A community push to scrap a giant 470-unit high-rise backing on to popular Davies Park in West End is gaining momentum as political parties trade barbs about the controversial project.

Council is assessing a development application lodged by Manly Properties for two, 26-storey towers at 281 and 297 Montague Rd, presently occupied by low-rise light industrial buildings.

The height is 14 storeys above the neighbourhood plan and furious residents have submitted more than 600 objections, one of the largest responses to a development in years.

Most contested developments generate fewer than 50 submissions, in comparison.

The proposal is also an amended application for a Code Assessable development for five apartment buildings, which was previously approved by council.

Artist’s impression of the two-tower development proposal in West End next to Davies Park.

Greens state MP for the area, Amy MacMahon, local Greens councillor Jonathan Sri and the party’s candidate for the federal seat of Griffith, Max Chandler-Mather, staged a protest against the development last July.

Council officers requested several changes, including reducing the height of the towers as well as their bulk and scale, on February 10 but the developers are yet to respond.

But Ms McMahon called on Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner to buy the land and use it to expand Davies Park.

The Greens have organised a community barbecue to rally against the project, at Davies Park on March 13.

Empty Davies Park, home of Souths Logan Magpies Rugby. Picture: AAP/Richard Walker

“The fact that a developer thought they had a shot at getting 26 storeys approved on this high-profile site shows how deeply broken Queensland’s planning system is,” Ms McMahon said.

“This small win (lowering the buildings’ height) is down to all the passionate local residents who mobilised against this outrageous development.

“It’s down to the hundreds of residents who gave up their Saturday mornings to attend community meetings and rallies to fight back against this development.”

Artist impression of the two-tower development proposal.

“Everywhere you turn in South Brisbane, there’s another development over two, eight or 14 stories over the neighbourhood plan height limits being approved.

“Our neighbourhood plans are barely worth the paper they’re written on.”

“If our ‘performance-based’ planning system is here to be flexible to community needs, what the community needs is more parkland.

“We’re calling on the Deputy Premier and the Lord Mayor to stop this development and buy this site for parkland.”

How the towers could look.

A Council spokesman said the call by Ms McMahon showed the “hypocrisy of the Greens’’.

“On the Toowong side of the river, the Greens have successfully championed getting rid of a former bowls club and green space (the defunct Toowong Bowls Club, which the State Government will use to build a new primary school),” the spokesman said.

“However, on the West End side of the river, the Greens oppose everything for base political purposes.

Manly Properties argued that by being allowed to build higher it could expand the amount of public green space at the site.

“Ms McMahon would be better off spending her time learning how the planning scheme works.

“If she did that she’d know that state legislation requires a flexible and performance-based City Plan which helps get better outcomes, such as additional green space, for Brisbane residents.”

State Greens MP for the Toowong area, Michael Berkman, has previously said he did not advocate for the Toowong Bowls Club to be used for the new primary school and instead wanted it built on another site.

But he also argued it was a better option than using part of the Indooroopilly State High School site.

In their proposal, Manly Properties said the amended project was created to achieve three objectives.

“To create a significant contribution to the existing open space in the West End Neighbourhood by adding a 4000sqm park,” the prposal said.

“Connect one of Brisbane’s major roads, Vulture Street to the river with pedestrian/cycle park access and to reconfigure height to free up the ground plane and provide public realm opportunities, retail activity and connectivity through to Davies Park and the river.”

The community barbecue at Davies Park is at 4pm on March 13.