Statistics show the Gold Coast’s northern suburbs lead Queensland in terms of population growth

GOLD Coast voters will now almost certainly face a redraw of council divisions before the next council election as statistics show north’s rapid growth

According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics the Gold Coast’s northern suburbs population is booming.

GOLD Coast voters are almost certain to face a realignment of council divisions after the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its latest population growth figures.

According to figures from the ABS, Pimpama led growth in the state, adding 35 per cent to its population to sit at 8161.

It puts the suburb growth over the past decade at more than 350 per cent, growing from 1728 in 2006.

The next top performer on the Coast was Coomera, which grew by 11.3 per cent to 13,324.

Overall the Gold coast grew by 2.2 per cent to 582,215.

The rapid growth of the city’s north is set to trigger a redrawing of the city’s divisional boundaries and has led to calls for more infrastructure to be allocated to the rapidly growing area.

A council spokesperson said it was required to review its electoral boundaries every four years and provide the results of the review to the Electoral Commissioner by no later than March 1 in the year before the quadrennial elections, with the next review due in 2019.

“The Act further requires that each division of the local government area must have a reasonable proportion of electors,” they said.

“To do that, we must divide the total number of electors in the city by the total number of divisions and ensure that every division is in quota, which means that every division must be within 10 per cent of the total number of people on the electoral roll divided by 14.”

Gold Coast Deputy Mayor Councillor Donna Gates

With division one, held by Donna Gates, already the city’s largest division by area and exceeding the average division by more than 10 per cent, a redraw is a mere formality.