Toowoomba subdivision at Top Camp proposed to council by Watcon Building Group

With Toowoomba’s housing market still unable to keep pace with the demand for new properties, another subdivision has been planned not far from the edge of the city’s urban footprint.

Toowoomba’s southward residential development looks set to continue, after another subdivision was proposed to keep pace with the incredible demand for housing across the city.

Local firm Watcon Building Group lodged plans with the Toowoomba Regional Council last week to create a 27-lot rural residential housing estate out of two parcels measuring 15 hectares on the western side of the New England Highway at Top Camp.

While the proposed lot sizes range from 4000 sqm up to 1.5 hectares, the subdivision is just a few hundred metres away from the southern edge of Kearneys Spring.

According to the report by Precinct Urban Planning’s Paul Kelly, the project includes new roads to connect the lots to Crebra Crescent, which feeds into the highway.

“The design of new roads comprises a seven metres wide pavement and concrete footpath within an 18 metres wide road reserve,” his report said.

The attached traffic impact report by RMA Engineers also explained that during the pre-lodgement process the council and Department of Transport and Main Roads were at odds over whether to require access to the currently-unformed Hayden Street East north of the site.

“The TRC preference is for additional access via Hayden Street East (as) one access effectively results in a large cul-de-sac which does not create a well connected neighbourhood,” the report said.

“DTMR prefers access via Crebra Crescent only (because that) intersection location represents a superior location in terms of vertical and horizontal alignment (and) includes existing road infrastructure including a channelised right turn lane.”

Reports into ecology, bushfire management, engineering and stormwater were also submitted with the application.

It comes as Toowoomba developers like Clive Berghofer and the Wagner family continue the creation of lots in Kearneys Spring, Torrington, Mount Rascal and other localities in the southern part of the city.

Real estate agents say the development of lots cannot keep track of demand for new housing, especially in new parcels less than 1000 sqm in size.

Toowoomba’s rental vacancy rate will head into 2023 at below one per cent, having not risen above that mark since 2020.