Six big developments Toowoomba is still waiting for

NOT every groundbreaking idea becomes reality. Here are six enormous projects Toowoomba would love to see get off the ground.

Fast passenger rail has been named a priority for the Toowoomba region.

NOT every groundbreaking idea becomes reality.

Projects run into hitches and hiccups.

Here are six big projects the Toowoomba region is still waiting on.

Toowoomba Premium Milk factory

WINNING FORMULA: Concept plans for the Toowoomba Premium Milk factory adjacent to the Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport.

IT WAS supposed to begin construction in October 2018, but Toowoomba Premium Milk's dream of exporting infant formula to China remains just that.

The project, based in Wellcamp Business Park, would have seen one million litres of milk exported to the world's biggest economy each year.

The first stage was estimated to be worth $50 million, while TPM executive chairman Steve Laracy in late 2018 said the second stage would cost $180 million, after cost of technology increased.

More than 5200 jobs were expected to be created during construction, and 150 direct jobs once operational.

But two years on, construction of the massive facility is yet to begin.

Fast Rail to Brisbane

The Federal Government announced funding for a business case into a fast passenger rail service between Brisbane and Toowoomba in the 2018 budget.

IT'S an idea that refuses to die - the dream of one day being able to jump on a train in Toowoomba and hop off at Brisbane Central Station in less than the time it takes to drive there.

It was back in 1984 that the project came within a hair's breadth of starting, after former premier Sir John Bjelke Petersen had the range drill tested, planning to build a tunnel for a fast passenger train through the Toowoomba Range.

But it didn't happen.

Since then, all kinds of ideas for the link between Toowoomba and Brisbane have been put forward.

One of them was Ultraspeed Australia's Hyperloop system - a "revolutionary technology to propel passengers in pods through vacuum-sealed tubes" and which is claimed would enable travel at 1000km/h or more.

Another is the plain, old-fashioned bullet train.

Fast passenger rail has been named a priority for the Toowoomba region.

In 2018 the South East Queensland Council of Mayors commissioned and published a report from major infrastructure consultants SMEC, which recommended the building of a rapid rail network that would carry passengers to the centre of Brisbane from the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and even Toowoomba in less than 45 minutes.

Fast rail remains on the Toowoomba Regional Council's 2020 State Election wishlist, but for now it remains just that - a wish.

Water Park

ALONGSIDE Fast Rail, giving the Garden City a water park is an idea that has long captivated the imaginations of those living on top of the Great Dividing Range.

Every few years, someone starts a petition calling for Toowoomba to have a water park.

Usually, it's people asking for Toowoomba Regional Council to stump up the money for it.

The reality is that it's probably going to be up to private enterprise to build a water park in Toowoomba - the last of which was Willow Springs Adventure Park, which closed in 1997.

It was located on the site of what is now The Springs Garden World, on Spring St, Kearneys Spring.

The Spring St water park was opened by Cos and Helen Whish-Wilson and was a popular from the 1970s right through to the 1990s.

The 10-acre adventure park featured dual water slides (a "scary one", and a "not-so-scary" version), a swimming pool, flying fox, skating rink, dodgem cars, oversized swans that users could paddle around an island, huge trampolines and a horse/cow fashioned out of a used oil drum that you could rock backwards and forwards.

There was also a merry-go-round, swings and barbecues.

Supercar Track

Locals are in favour of the V8 Supercar project. Photo: NISSAN

IT WAS back in 2014 that a memorandum of understanding was signed between V8 Supercars and Wagners to build a supercar track at Wellcamp.

A change of government in early 2015 threw a spanner into the works, as the proposal required government investment.

Support for the 450ha facility near Wellcamp Airport was led in 2017 by then chairman of Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise Shane Charles.

Locals are in favour of the project.

Who wouldn't want to see V8 Supercars racing in our own backyard?

But the $40 million circuit seems a distant dream.

Council convention centre

ALSO in 2014, Toowoomba Regional Council purchased the Aldersgate Court complex on Hume St as part of its land banking strategy.

It came off the back of purchasing the adjoining TAFE property for $3.25 million in 2009.

Mayor Paul Antonio then said one of the many possibilities for the Aldersgate Court complex was a future convention centre.

But just under a year later in January 2015, the council "temporarily" shelved plans to build a convention centre in the CBD.

It had previously been "engaging with the market" to see if there was a possibility of a public-private partnership to take the proposal forward.

"Feedback from the process we went through indicated investors are positive about opportunities in Toowoomba, but the private sector is unwilling at the moment to fund a convention centre," Cr Antonio said in 2015.

"This does not mean it will not happen. Council believes strongly that there is a need for this style of facility and will continue to investigate other to achieve this kind of facility."

The proposal appears to have quietly dropped off the radar since then.

Charlton Sports Precinct

Details of the new Toowoomba multi-sports precinct at Charlton. Contributed

THE $192 million Charlton Sports Precinct master plan was approved by Toowoomba Regional Council for a 43.87ha site west of the Toowoomba in 2015.

The final master plan recognised the viability and growth of the Toowoomba region would be reinforced by the provision of a suite of regional sporting facilities and community places.

Included in the plan are rugby ovals, AFL and cricket ovals, soccer pitches, netball courts, amenities, a gym, a clubhouse, and more.

Five years on, it's still just a master plan.