Tanks to take poo to Logan: Redland approves two housing estates without sewerage

Redland City Council has approved two massive housing estates after deals were done to allow trucks to haul sewage to a treatment plant in nearby Logan City.

A truck pumps sewage from the Shoreline estate out of large black plastic tanks. When two more estates come are built, the sewage will be trucked 15km to Logan for dumping. Pictures: Judith Kerr

A bayside council told to increase its housing supply has approved two massive housing estates which will rely on trucks to tank sewage into nearby Logan.

Redland City Council gave the green light to Stockland-affiliated Halcyon Homes to build up to 500 relocatable houses on Serpentine Creek Rd and has allowed developer Villawood to build a further 224 houses next door.

The council approved both projects after an officer report said deals had been done to allow the tanked sewage to be dumped 15km away at a Logan City Council treatment plant.

The massive housing developments will be built on Serpentine Creek Rd, adjacent to Lendlease’s 3000-house Shoreline development.

It is currently the subject of a proposed sale being investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Black plastic holding tanks were installed at the Shoreline housing estate at Redland Bay where the council had lifted the number of homes to 200 because the estate is not connected to a sewerage treatment plant. Pictures: Judith Kerr

Redland City Council allowed all three developments to proceed without reticulated sewerage.

All three developers have paid to have their estates connected to a new $100 million wastewater plant being built in Redland Bay on the Logan River.

However, at its meeting on Wednesday last week, the council was told only 78 homes in the Halcyon estate could use trucks to tank waste to Logan, with 59 homes at Villawood.

Houses built at either site after the tanking ceiling limit is reached would have to be connected to the wastewater treatment plant Lendlease is constructing in southern Redland Bay, which is expected to be completed by 2026 but has faced year-long delays.

An onsite sewage collection point for the trucks to take the waste will be built at the Halcyon project, which will offer “affordable” secure retirement accommodation without requiring long-term financial contracts.

The council has also required the developers pay a security bond of $1,196,170 “in the unlikely event” that council would need to take the sewage itself and treat it within Redland.

Developers also have to upgrade a T-intersection at Kidd St and on the state-owned Serpentine Creek Rd (Beenleigh – Redland Bay Road) and install traffic lights at the front of the Villawood estate.

Serpentine Creek Rd, metres from the new development, where a Wynnum woman was killed has been subject of an investigation after a planned roundabout had to be redesigned because it did not fit on the road. Picture: Judith Kerr

Two people died within 2km of the proposed 224-house Villawood development, which will front the busy Serpentine Creek Rd, also known as Cleveland-Redland Bay Rd.

Mother-of-three Mersina Axiom died in February 2020, 1.8km to the south of the project, and five months later, a 69-year-old Wynnum West woman died less than 1km to the north.

The T-intersection was the subject of an investigation last year after the Transport and Main Roads Department was forced to redesign a roundabout at the site because initial engineered plans did not fit on the available land.

Before approving the projects, the council heard from project managers from both sites.

A Stockland-Halcyon project director said relocatable home parks were no longer “small homes on steel stumps” and the project would address the low supply of secure housing for the ageing.

The Stockland and Villawood site is next to the 3000-lot Shoreline housing estate which also has no connection to a sewerage treatment plant system.

Stockland refused to answer questions about its proposal to buy the Lendlease Communities portfolio, of which Redland Bay’s Shoreline estate is one.

The ACCC investigation is into the impact on competition of the proposed acquisition of the Lendlease businesses by the Stockland-led joint venture.

It will look at how such a deal would affect the market for the acquisition of land for residential development.

No date is set for the ACCC to hand down its findings on the Lendlease sale but Lendlease CEO Tony Lombardo is due to outline the company’s strategy and reveal any plans for the sale of its communities business on May 27.

Originally published as Tanks to take poo to Logan: Redland approves two housing estates without sewerage