Council responds to Queensland Government’s draft Redland Housing Strategy

Redland City Council has endorsed its formal submission on the Queensland Government’s Draft Redland Housing Strategy 2023-2046 and called on the State Government to extend community consultation, including more information and mapping.

Mayor Karen Williams said it was important to note that the strategy was prepared despite the fact Council was consistently delivering its dwelling targets identified in the state government’s regional plan.

“Council has repeatedly demonstrated it has adequate land supply to accommodate the population growth and dwelling projections of the draft Shaping SEQ 2023 to 2046, and beyond,” Cr Williams said.

“In general, Council supports the aim of this draft strategy – to deliver greater housing supply and diversity in the right locations to meet the needs of the current and future population on Redlands Coast.

“However, it proposes adding significant additional dwelling capacity without providing supporting evidence and proposes changes which are simplistic and do not adequately consider the unique residential amenity and character of our established neighbourhoods across the city.

“While, generally, Council supports proposals to increase dwelling density around centres and public transport nodes, some of the actions do not adequately consider consequential impacts.”

Cr Williams said two areas of greatest concern were proposals relating to minimum lot sizes and increased building heights.

“One of the proposals is to allow subdivided lots as small as 200m2, where part of an integrated development, on low density residential zoned lots that are 600m2 or greater in size across our city,” she said.

‘“There is also a proposal to increase building heights to seven storeys in the medium density residential zone where the property is within 800m of a principal centre zone.

“The scale of development from these two proposals will result in significant changes across our established suburbs and neighbourhoods, with significant impacts on residential amenity and character as well as the planning and delivery of infrastructure and services.

“Providing a significant increase in housing across the city without any State commitment to provide critical infrastructure such as main roads upgrades and improved public transport would have a significant negative impact on our community and the Redlands Coast lifestyle.”

Cr Williams said the strategy should also recognise that Council, as the local planning authority, was best placed to refine the proposed actions to support the needs of the growing community.

At today’s General Meeting, Council endorsed a report and attachments as its formal submission on the Draft Redland Housing Strategy 2023-2046. The documents can be read as part of the meeting agenda on Council’s website.

Council also resolved to request the State Government pause the Draft Housing Strategy and extend community consultation on the draft strategy, including more information and mapping.