The two sides of Cairns’ new housing development debate
A former councillor says the region’s growth is being held back by poor trunk infrastructure planning, while Cairns Regional Council has countered to state there’s no urgent need for new Mount Peter subdivisions.
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A former councillor says the region’s growth is being held back by poor trunk infrastructure planning, while Cairns Regional Council has countered to state there’s no urgent need for new Mount Peter subdivisions.
Pressure has been mounting on Cairns Regional Council to approve new subdivisions at greenfield sites within the southern growth corridor amid a critical housing shortage.
For years, industry has identified the delivery of trunk infrastructure such as water and sewerage to residential developments at Mount Peter as a major barricade to residential development and a handbrake on growth.
And ahead of the next state budget Premier David Crisafulli has warned local governments ought “get their house in order” in preparation of the release of $2bn trunk infrastructure fund to address housing supply shortages.
“We’ll be going to market on that shortly, and money will flow from the first budget,” he said.
“That’s how keen we are about that, my advice, particularly to councils, is get your house in order, put in an application, and we’ll be delivering houses in an orderly fashion.”
Half of that money has been earmarked for regional Queensland.
The timing and provision of water and sewage services is expected to be a major issue as part of an upcoming courtroom showdown between Fortress Group and Cairns Regional Council after the Queensland developer was blocked from delivering a 700-lot housing estate at Mount Peter in May.
Council has claimed the development is “out of sequence” and the costly delivery of infrastructure services is further south of other planned subdivisions such as the 1360 home project on Mount Peter Rd, proposed by the Kroymans Developments.
But former Cairns Regional Council Division 5 councillor Richie Bates claimed the council was holding back the growth of Cairns by not delivering fast enough the critical water and sewer networks the growing city needs.
“Local governments have not been living up to their responsibilities in the providing of trunk infrastructure,” he said.
“They make tens of millions of dollars in their water (supply) business and they are not reinvesting the money they make in water charges, they are not reinvesting enough back into water and sewerage.”
Despite Mount Peter being made a master planned area in 2008, paving the way for the provision of new homes for 50,000 people in the next 20 years, a Priority Development Area to support long-term housing supply has not been declared in the area by the state government.
Council claims the declaration of a PDA will fast-track development and unlock 3300ha between Edmonton and Gordonvale where about 18,500 new homes could be built, but it’s understood Cairns developers believe that a state government instrument is not the answer to getting more housing built.
In October 2022 council received a $15m interest free loan through the Building Acceleration Fund which was put toward a high level reservoir in the hills behind MacKillop Catholic College, but completion of the project is not expected to be complete until December 2025.
Mr Bates claimed infrastructure planning had not kept pace with a recent avalanche of proposed large scale subdivisions and the result was a water and sewer bottleneck.
However Division 2 councillor Matthew Tickner viewed the situation differently.
He said council had to approach greenfield development with caution while there remained a “significant” number of undeveloped lots already hooked up to trunk infrastructure.
According to council 6000 vacant lots have development approvals in place and a further estimated 3000 vacant lots can be developed with access to sewage and water services.
The former urban planner also raised concerns about profits made by developers being subsidised by Cairns ratepayers.
“Council has to balance the needs of the (development) industry with existing residents,” he said.
“If it’s not required today we have to be very careful about how we approach that.
“Developers (are) looking for cheap cane paddock development … (and) ratepayers cop the bill for bringing the infrastructure forward 5-10 years ahead of schedule.
“We are far from being against development but if it goes wrong, it goes very wrong, and we want to make sure as a council we are getting it right.”
Cairns Mayor Amy Eden said council shared a common goal with developers to tackle housing availability but the use of ratepayer cash on trunk infrastructure had to be carefully considered.
“But we can’t put ratepayers’ money at risk (and) the body of work to avoid that risk is complex and evolving,” she said.
Ahead of tap turning on the release of state government trunk infrastructure funding, Mr Tickner said council already had irons in the fire.
“$1bn of that has been earmarked for regional areas, there are 77 councils in Queensland so they will all be fighting for it,” he said.
“But we are full steam ahead to make sure we are at the front of the queue when that money comes down the pipe.”
In 2025 the 10-year-old Cairnsplan 2016 is expected to be superseded by a new planning scheme that will be guided by consultation from early next year with the Queensland Government Statisticians Office.
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Originally published as The two sides of Cairns’ new housing development debate
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