Showdown: Cairns Show president ‘horrified’ by major redevelopment plan to site
Cairns mayor Amy Eden’s proposal to build residential apartments or a hotel at the city’s showgrounds has been knocked back by the site’s leaseholders, who say they were unaware of the plans.
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Cairns mayor Amy Eden’s bid to build residential apartments or a hotel at the city’s showground has been knocked back by the site’s leaseholders, who say they were unaware of the plans.
But the city’s top civic leader has stood firm, declaring that the Cairns Show Association “didn’t express strong opposition” to residential development at the site during a meeting in early February.
Last week, Ms Eden proposed seeking funding for a major redevelopment of the 17ha Cairns showground with “urban living options” explored as part of a new master plan.
Cairns Show president Ian Allen has since nixed the pitch, declaring that he had never agreed to exploring housing options on the prized Parramatta Park site despite Ms Eden and her adviser, Gavin King, attempting to convince him otherwise.
“I just don’t know where this has come from,” Mr Allen said.
“The first I knew about it was when I read it in the paper. I was absolutely horrified. I have always opposed residential development.
“(After the announcement) I got that many phone calls from people asking me if I’d lost the plot.”
The longtime president said the land on Mulgrave Rd wasn’t suitable for housing for multiple reasons, including the crucial role its facilities play during emergencies.
“I spoke to the mayor and Gavin King, along with (Cairns Show manager) Ian Moller-Nielsen and we have expressed very strongly that we are opposed to residential development,” Mr Allen said.
“When there’s flooding out on the northern beaches we often have 70 horses in our stables.
“During (Tropical Cyclone) Jasper, emergency services used the showgrounds’ and would sit in the grandstand in the morning and brief each other before they started the day.”
The show association would support a redevelopment provided housing options were taken off the table.
But the mayor has disputed Mr Allen’s version of events.
“In my meeting with the show association president and the secretary … I raised the concept of residential development among many other potential ideas, and they certainly didn’t express strong opposition to it in that meeting,” Ms Eden said.
The proposed masterplan would re-imagine both the showground and Barlow Park, Ms Eden said.
“Many showground sites in Australia and around the world host their annual agricultural show on a site that incorporates residential or accommodation development,” she said.
“It could generate income for the site, create jobs and provide much-needed inner city housing that would add vibrancy to an area of Cairns that needs it.
“We can’t let this long-term, city-defining project be derailed before it’s even begun.”
Mr Allen said he was open to other elements of the proposal.
“I would like to see the Fred Moule Pavilion used as an evacuation centre in the event of an emergency, get a new roof on it and put some airconditioning in there,” Mr Allen said.
“The grandstand needs a new roof too. It leaks.”
But residential homes would threaten the future of the Cairns Show, Mr Allen said.
“Once you have people living there, they’ll start complaining about the noise and the show will be moved on,” he said.
“People say the showgrounds are only used three days a year but we have community groups there all the time.”
A masterplan to transform the showground was previously released in 2019.
In 2017, the council abandoned its bid to move the Cairns Show to Cannon Park.
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