Remember when: The 2000 Gold Coast City Council discussed a population and development cap

IT was the year 2000 but the Gold Coast City Council’s attention was turned to the future of the region.

Gold Coast History 130: Gold Coast Bulletin 2000, December 21. Front page.

Gold Coast Bulletin, Thursday December 21, 2000

IT was the year 2000 but the Gold Coast City Council’s attention was turned to the future of the region.

Gold Coast History 130: Gold Coast Bulletin 2000, December 21. Front page.

The Bulletin’s front page, just days before Christmas, revealed that the council had a “secret plan to close the doors to the Gold Coast when the population reached 1 million people.

Business leaders said they had heard the plan through rumours even though green groups had been briefed by the council.

The Gold Coast Combined Chamber of Commerce demanded a meet with the council in early 2001 to learn details of the alleged population cap.

Councillor Sue Robbins, who at the time was the head of the council’s planning committee south confirmed a new town plan was being drafted with population targets in mind.

She admitted it aimed to reduce development and reduce population growth.

“A development cap will be reached soon and that will create a population cap of sorts,” she said.

“We have a population target and the numbers are quite specific but the very terrain of the land on the Gold Coast will dictate the number of people and developments we have.

“We can’t overburden the system, there will be redevelopment but not new development — the town plan will cap things.”

A population and development cap did not go ahead and both have continued unabated.

In early 2015, demographer predicted the city’s population would with 1.2 million by 2050.