Strong community support for Birkdale Community Precinct

The results of an extensive five-week community engagement campaign conducted by Redland City Council have confirmed strong support for what is being delivered at Birkdale Community Precinct (BCP).

Redland City Mayor Karen Williams said the campaign was held from 30 April to 6 June 2022 to gather community feedback on the Draft BCP Master Plan.

The results were included in an independently prepared engagement summary report which was adopted at today’s Council general meeting.

“During the consultation period, an online survey asked if BCP provided the right mix of facilities, spaces and activities. Overall, the majority of respondents agreed with the draft master plan directions,” Cr Williams said.

“On average, three out of four respondents to the online survey conducted during the campaign, agreed or strongly agreed with what the Draft BCP Master Plan was proposing.”

Cr Williams said the survey results also showed a clear indication that the precinct will be visited regularly with general day-to-day activities being for recreation, meeting friends, using the public swimming lagoon, birthday and other parties and for personal fitness.

Located along Old Cleveland Road East at Birkdale and bordered in part by Tingalpa Creek, BCP is the largest, most encompassing and diverse community project ever delivered by Council for Redlands Coast.

Council will take a whole-of-precinct approach for the next major delivery stage of BCP.

“To address and protect the site’s significant environmental, ecological, cultural and heritage values, while delivering the diverse assets as detailed in the draft master plan, will be a very interconnected and complex process,” Cr Williams said.

“If the statutory planning approaches are not undertaken in a cohesive manner there will be potential for delivery, cost and integration risks leading to piecemeal and low-quality development outcomes.”

Also at today’s general meeting, Council resolved that a Local Government Infrastructure Designation (LGID) be prepared for BCP in accordance with the Planning Act 2006, Planning Regulation 2017 and the Ministers Guidelines and Rules 2020.

The overall delivery of BCP is based on a 20-year development timeframe with three core time periods, Cr Williams said.

“Although a relatively long period for overall delivery, the decision to commence the required statutory planning in 2022 is to ensure that the first major stage of BCP is open to the public in early 2027, with a possibility that some smaller parts of the precinct, such as Willards Farm, may be accessible to the public earlier,” she said.

“Council intends to involve and inform the community at all possible opportunities. This will be above and beyond the required statutory notifications and will, in general, have to do with specific communications campaigns around individual planning applications – allowing the public access to appropriate documentation and plans, and soliciting their input.

“We have already shown how willing we are to make this project first and foremost about community.

“Council has now conducted two extensive community engagement campaigns as well as launching a Local Partnerships Program, all of which were non-statutory; meaning that Council was not obliged under any legislation – apart from its own resolution – to undertake any of these engagement or feedback activities.”

The Local Partnerships Program (LPP) – commenced before and continued throughout the community engagement period, Cr Williams said. Nine pilot projects directly related to the precinct were established under the LPP with community and youth groups working on various topics such as recycling, storytelling and well-being.

“The LPP is a way for Council to build successful and long-term partnerships with community, business and youth, based around the intergenerational project that is BCP,” she said.

Council had planned two Info Days to be held onsite at Birkdale during the engagement campaign, unfortunately they had to be cancelled due to weather events.

For more information about BCP and the Draft BCP Master Plan, or to read the engagement summary report, go to Your Say Redlands Coast.