Future Gold Coast: The report by council planners calling for beachside villages to be saved as light rail heads south

Council planners are investigating key beachside Gold Coast suburbs which could help protect their unique history from the impact of light rail heading south.

COUNCIL planners are investigating key beachside Gold Coast suburbs which could help protect their unique history from the impact of light rail heading south.

Suburbs which were part of a special investigation and “place analysis” reports to council’s planning committee include Miami, Nobby Beach, Mermaid Beach and Burleigh Heads.

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Samantha Siedschlag and Priscyla Rodrigues from Brazil have some fun at Burleigh Heads Beach on Australia Day weekend — it’s an iconic location. (AAP image, John Gass)

The executive summary to the reports says the council is “committed to protecting areas of the Gold Coast with a particular local identity, natural resource base or development character”.

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Planners found Miami’s place character included “the headland and Norfolk-lined beachfront” and the remaining traditional retail and commercial frontage on the Gold Coast Highway.

Key urban elements were the North Burleigh SLSC, the history of the Miami Hotel, the Jebbribillum Bora Park and original beach house stock west of the highway.

The ribbon commercial development along the Gold Coast Highway through Mermaid Beach was regarded as one of the most important character areas of the city.

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Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3A artist impressions — the station at Burleigh Heads.

“Neon signs, motels, hotels, leisure attractions and shops line the highway from Southport to Coolangatta,” the report said.

“It is symbolic of the primary period of growth on this part of the Gold Coast when, in the wake of post war austerity, the motor car became in itself a symbol of affluence and personal freedom.”

The corridor between Mermaid Beach and Miami had remnant evidence of the car-based tourism which reached its peak in the 1960s and 1970s.

“In the surrounding neighbourhoods, there remains valuable stock of original holiday homes dating from the 1950s,” the report said.

Council planners said it was important to reference these historic influences when considering future urban renewal.

“It is truly a unique story of urbanism worth celebrating,” the officers wrote in their report.

Planners in their investigation found at Nobby Beach many of the original holiday homes built after the second World War.

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Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3A route between Broadbeach and Burleigh Heads.

“The current Nobby Beach SLSC was built in 1954 but there has been a patrolled beach since 1922,” the officer’s report said.

Nobby Beach once boasted the Magic Castle on its headland and while it is gone much of the commercial area remains the same.

“The general absence of franchise or chain business and age and form of commercial buildings together contribute towards a relaxed and informal atmosphere,” the report added.

The special qualities listed for Burleigh Heads include its expansive open space, beachfront park and national reserve.

The busy village atmosphere along with the sense of past offered by its built environment made it one of the Coast’s “most well known and valued destinations”.

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Gold Coast City Councillor Pauline Young — the studies support progress on the light rail.

“Its rich history, the Norfolk Island pine-lined beach, a traditional “high street” retail precinct and the pervasive visual presence of its famous headland combine to shape a truly unique place character,” the report said.

But planners admit that Burleigh faces a major challenge in planning for its future as government and council ready for funding on light rail south from Broadbeach.

The key will be ensuring “new development respects or enhances its unique place qualities”.

Burleigh-based councillor Pauline Young said the idea behind the studies was to support the progress with the light rail.

“We need to know that the things that are very important to locals on all of those village areas are front and foremost the detail design of the future light rail stops,” she said.

“It is essential these form part of those whole guide, will help with the (light rail) overlay.

“But it’s also the likes of our trees and how those areas are going to be very pedestrian friendly, that they’re easy to park near a light rail station and to walk safely into an environment that’s not just concrete but something people can sit and enjoy as well.”