Revealed: Why the Gold Coast needs heavy industry, cannot rely on the Glitter Strip
Council has been urged to take action to support the Gold Coast’s “critical” industrial base in the north as sites run out.
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THE council has been warned to “plan ahead” and ensure there is enough land and proper infrastructure to support the Gold Coast’s industrial base in the north.
The Bulletin can reveal the Yatala-Stapylton enterprise area, the largest in southeast Queensland, is facing enormous competition from nearby Logan and Ipswich as sites run out on the western side of the Pacific Motorway.
A report to councillors, considered behind closed doors, found about 19ha of high-impact, industry-zoned land had been taken up in the past two years.
“However, no new high-impact industry uses have been established,” the report said.
Consultants said large footprint buildings to house manufacturing, food production, breweries and recycling remain essential to the balanced growth of the Coast.
“The high-impact industry zone has not stimulated any new high-impact industry uses over the past 10 years,” the report said.
The current balance of zones was 21 per cent high impact, 50 per cent medium industry and 28 per cent low impact.
Councillors have backed a push by Division 1 councillor Mark Hammel for the council to investigate additional industry supply land to cover the next 50 years.
Cr Mark Hammel believes the eastern side of the M1 at Ormeau, where new industrial land has been cleared bordering the canefields, needs to be considered.
Many operators in the city’s industrial area had an increase in business during COVID because their goods and services were in high demand, he said.
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“We have to make sure we have got enough available land, not just for today but in decades to come,” he said.
“This industrial area is critical to the city’s success in the future. We have to make sure we identify suitable land and to zone that land away for industrial use is critically important.”
Cr Hammel believes the city must extend its employment base beyond tourism.
“This area is all about jobs. It’s about investment in the city. There’s hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars investment in the city going on up here every year.
“There’s roughly 35,000 people employed in here at the moment with the possibility of doubling that in the future.”
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