Highfields residents plan meeting with councillors over landclearing as Tim McMahon pushes for $225m koala habitat funding

Residents angry over the clearing of natural habitat by developers have stepped up efforts to get the Toowoomba council to protect the environment. It comes as one councillor pushes for federal funding to save koala habitat.

Toowoomba residents and activists are preparing to ramp up efforts to push for tighter tree-clearing laws across the region, with a meeting planned featuring councillors.

The Darling Downs Environment Council will host a special community tree forum at the Highfields Tavern on December 1, after more than 6800 people signed Toowoomba ornithologist Scot McPhie’s signature pushing for landclearing reforms within the council.

The petition was created in response to significant portions of land around Highfields being cleared for a number of new housing projects in recent months.

All habitat was cleared legally by developers, much to the anger of residents.

The meeting will be held a few weeks after councillors narrowly voted against a motion exploring short-term options to protect more habitat before the next planning scheme is approved.

The motion by councillor Bill Cahill, who is a speaker at the forum, split the elected officials 5-5.

Mr McPhie said he was disappointed to see the motion fail, noting the planning scheme would take at least another three years to be implemented.

Toowoomba ornithologist Scot McPhie has called on the council to tighten up its restrictions around the clearing of mature trees, with a petition he started earning nearly 7000 signatures.

“We want to work out what areas need protection across the region and how we can get council to protect before 2025,” he said.

“It’s just an interim measure (that we want) until we get something in place — it would be better than nothing.

“The council is reliant on state mapping, and my understanding is that mapping is a bit inaccurate, but we want to develop a system where people can map and identify individual trees.”

Mr Cahill said his motion was to not only explore more options but also show the community the council was addressing the matter.

“I haven’t spoken to a person who agrees with the way in which the land was treated out here in Highfields,” he said.

“The motion was simply and clearly to place on record that council was listening.”

In another plan to help protect key koala habitat, councillor Tim McMahon successfully pushed through a motion regarding the federal government’s new $225m Saving Native Species program, asking the department to spend the money in the region.

The program and attached action plan has identified Brigalow country west of the Great Dividing Range as a priority area.

Mr McMahon said the money could be first used by the federal government to identify koala areas across the Toowoomba region not covered by state mapping currently.

Councillor Tim McMahon

“It all comes down to knowing what’s there first, and it joins into the other conversations we’re having at the moment because we’re trying to keep these trees maintained,” he said.

“We have the community asking what is going on, no one is doing anything illegal so we need to get the policy in place to do a bit better.

“We have some locals on the ground counting koalas right now, and (any funding would include) working with those guys as well.”

Mr McMahon said he had not yet been invited to the Highfields forum but would be interested to come along.

It comes just three weeks after Mr McMahon’s council colleague Megan O’Hara Sullivan successfully moved a motion to explore the TRC committing to planting one million trees across the region over the next five years.