Essence Estate Toowoomba: Cotswold Hills residents vow to fight for changes to 171-lot subdivision after council backflip

Residents in Toowoomba’s western suburbs say they feel betrayed by the council after it backflipped on rejecting a Gold Coast developer’s plans for a 171-lot subdivision.

Essence Estate.

Dozens of residents have vowed to fight for changes to a $105m subdivision in Toowoomba’s western suburbs, after the council voted to backflip on its original decision to reject it.

More than 50 Cotswold Hills locals met on Saturday determined to minimise the impacts of stages 5-10 of Essence Estate, which was knocked back by councillors in December last year following significant community backlash.

Key concerns were around the sizes of some lots (measured at 450 sqm), the loss of vegetative buffer zones and increased traffic impacts by connecting the estate to the existing local roads network.

Cotswold Hills residents have called on the Toowoomba Regional Council to force changes to the newly-approved balance of the Essence Estate subdivision in the area, including cutting off road access and creating new buffer zones.

Developer Ron Bakir of Homecorp Construction appealed the decision for the 171-lot subdivision in the planning and environment court before also providing a revised plan last month.

Ron Bakir, CEO, Homecorp. Photo: Regi Varghese

But in a stunning reversal, councillors voted during a confidential meeting in June to have the original proposal approved through the courts.

It’s understood the motion by new councillor Gary Gardner was to reduce the legal cost to ratepayers given the legal precedence set by a prior court decision on the first four stages back in 2015.

It is also believed councillors believed the revised plan was significantly worse in some areas, including the reduction in size of several lifestyle residential blocks.

But longtime Opal Court resident and community organiser Cathy Collins, whose cul-de-sac street would be opened up to Essence, still saw the backflip as a betrayal.

“I’m really worried that the ticks and checks that council should do aren’t being done — I don’t understand why they’re not listening to us,” she said.

“I’ve never been more disappointed of a group of people in all my life.

“It’s like someone put a knife in my back and twisted it, I couldn’t talk about it for a week and a half.”

Ms Collins said residents conceded the subdivision, which has been controversial since its inception more than a decade ago, was inevitable.

The Toowoomba Regional Council has rejected Homecorp Construction's proposal for more than 170 lots at Cotswold Hills, making up the balance of Essence Estate.

But she said changes could still be made to its design, including a new traffic management plan that stopped connection to Opal Court and Ryan Drive.

“We have worked out that just in this stage alone, and not including existing or future stages, there potentially will be up to 6800 extra cars daily on our roads through the Cotswold Hills area,” Ms Collins said, basing the figure on her estimation of four cars per lot making two trips every working day.

“The traffic implications are enormous, because there will be another four stages opened up.

“We’re not trying to stop the housing, we just don’t want road access through our area.

“Make the developer create another entrance off Gowrie Junction or Hermitage Roads.”

Cotswold Hills residents have called on the Toowoomba Regional Council to force changes to the newly-approved balance of the Essence Estate subdivision in the area, including cutting off road access and creating new buffer zones.

Ms Collins said additional buffer zones backing onto Morris Court homes on the southern side and Phoebe Court residents on the eastern border were also requirements.

“The original developer had put in the buffer zones and put in the trees, to separate the two zones — we want the quietness and the quality of lifestyle,” she said.

“The new developer just came in and started knocking the trees down.

“Reinstate a buffer zone behind the Morris and Opal Court properties, but also protect the existing buffer zone behind Phoebe and Ella Courts.”

The removal of all blocks subject to flooding was also a demand from residents.

In response to the requests, Mr Bakir said much of what the residents opposed had been mandated by the council.

"In relation to Ryan's Drive, we made a submission to remove the connection so we could have less traffic - that's the submission we made to council, and council said no," he said.

"We said specifically in relation to Opal Court, it's not required whatsoever and they said it was and that it was a dealbreaker (if we didn't), so there's not much we can do about that.

"In relation to a buffer zone, there were no requirements for us to comply with that - what (residents are) referring to is there were some trees or bush in the area, which they said gave them a buffer.

"That is correct (we knocked them down), but there was no requirement to have that; if council had required that, we would've redesigned around it."