Education and health care action plans will be discussed by Redland City Council on Wednesday 6 September.
Strategies and action plans for two key sectors of the Redlands economy will be discussed by Redland City Council at its next meeting on Wednesday 6 September.
We also review matters from the previous meeting including the revelation that Council is working on an “alternative” masterplan for the Weinam Creek Priority Development Area.
Education and Training Industry Sector Plan
Steve Davis, Karen Williams and Andrew Laming at the Commonwealth lands in Birkdale – touted as the site for a Redlands university.
Council decided in July 2016 to prepare an Education and Training Industry Sector Strategy and Action Plan
Harris and Young Consulting was engaged to develop a plan. Their report identifies five strategies prioritised according to potential economic returns:
- Grow International Education
- Grow a University Sector
- Establish a Centre of Excellence in Education for the Ageing
- Develop a Health and Education Precinct
- Engage the community in education and lifelong learning
The consultant’s report says:
Redland City’s low population does not meet the threshold to attract a full major university campus. For this, a population of 500,000 is consistently mooted.
Instead of seeking the establishment of a university, the consultant recommends encouraging a higher education “presence” in Redlands which might take the form of a “study centre” incorporated into the Council library.
The consultant’s findings about a university are particularly interesting given the fact that a couple of Redlands politicians have been suggesting that the Commonwealth lands at Birkdale could be developed into a university campus.
Health Care and Social Assistance Plan
Council decided in July 2016 to prepare a Health Care and Social Assistance Industry Sector Strategy and Action Plan.
Carramar Consulting Pty Ltd was engaged to develop a plan. Their report identifies the following priorities for Redlands:
- Development, expansion and networking of local health services in appropriate locations, supported by suitable enabling infrastructure, to ensure an appropriate range of health care services are available to meet the needs of the population.
- Development of an integrated Health Precinct at Weippin Street to create an ‘exemplar’ model of contemporary health delivery in an appropriate location and configuration that meets the demand for health services in the region.
- Growth of the aged care and retirement living sector to ensure a consistent supply of retirees into the region, and development of appropriate infrastructure, services and programs to promote age-friendly communities and maintain Redland City as a destination of choice for retirement living.
- Promotion of Redland City as an inclusive community and destination of choice both locally and internationally, ensuring that all people have access to appropriate services, housing options, information about services and community activities, and employment opportunities.
Motions proposed by councillors Bishop and Talty
Redland City councillors can raise issues at a general meeting by giving notice of motion.
Two motions have been listed for discussion at the meeting on 6 September.
14.1.1 Area Surrounding Birkdale School of Arts Hall (Cr Paul Bishop)
That Council resolves that the Chief Executive Officer be requested to prepare a report on the future of the area surrounding the Birkdale School of Arts Hall in relation to the Birkdale Community Hub, as identified in the Redlands Social Infrastructure Strategy, 2009: Building Strong Communities.
in background information, Cr Bishop notes that regular users of the Birkdale School of Arts Hall have bookings that prevent general community use and there are growing needs in the area that may be supported by the establishment of a hub.
14.2.1 Fire Management Plans (Cr Julie Talty)
That Council resolves that the Chief Executive Officer prepares a further report to Council, on the feasibility of publishing a fact sheet for property owners, to assist them in preparing Fire Management Plans for private properties.
The meeting agenda, including the consultants’ reports on strategies for education and health care, can be downloaded from this Council webpage.
Weinam Creek PDA
Weinam Creek Priority Development Area 2014
If you want to find out what Council did last year, answers may be found in the Operational Plan performance report which was presented to the previous meeting on 23 August.
From this report we discover that Council’s not very transparent real estate company, Redland Investment Corporation, is preparing an alternative Weinam Creek masterplan, to be presented to Council by the end of September 2017.
Walker Group was selected as ‘preferred developer’ of the Weinam Creeek Priority Development Area in September 2014.
In the three years that Walker Group has been ‘preferred developer’ no development plans for Weinam Creek have been made publicly available.
It is understood that they are not particularly interested in pursuing real estate development opportunities at this site, which begs the question:
Why did Council (and the State Government) award both Toondah and Weinam Creek PDAs to the same developer?
It’s time for the Council and State Government to engage properly with the community about plans for Weinam Creek, recognizing the importance of this site as a gateway to the southern Moreton Bay islands.
Cr Talty’s not so urgent motion
Perhaps the most interesting part of the previous meeting was a long (33 minutes) discussion about whether or not a motion by Cr Talty should be discussed as urgent business without notice. This part of the meeting can be viewed from 1 hour and 13 minutes on the meeting video recording.
Here is a link to the Council webpage where you can download the 23 August meeting minutes.
Where’s the Mayor?
Mayor Karen Williams will be jet-setting around Asia in September. Her travel plans, approved by the Council on 7 June 2017, include visits to South Korea, China and Japan.
Redlands2030 – 5 September 2017
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4 Comments
If the Redlands was unable to support a Tafe, how can it support a University. Get real.
Re Cr Julie Talty’s fire management plans.
Listening yesterday to Gold Coast radio, was interested to hear a Mt Cotton resident speak of fires being lit near her home by a wildlife corridor where she mentioned koalas, kangaroos, etc. with another fire lit last Sunday evening affecting health and concerns for wildlife.
Resident was advised to contact local council and/or State member for advice. Council informed resident there was no policy on fire management. Conversation ended with request to call again next week when resident will be advised on who in government to contact on the issue. I would ask: ‘who would light a fire on a Sunday evening on a wildlife corridor?’
COMMONWEALTH land on Birkdale/Capalaba border. During Wayne Goss’ years in government, a university was under consideration, but never went ahead. At that particular time, we would not have had the traffic congestion we see today on our local roads with many deaths and crashes happening all too often lately that you don’t read about or hear about in local news reports. Had Paul Lucas, ex-Labor Transport Minister done his job, we wouldn’t be passing by each day seeing 2 posies of flowers in remembrance of a young man struck and killed by a turning truck from Willard Rd into Finucane Rd’s flowing traffic, known black spot, finally fixed by short term Premier Campbell Newman. Family received no compensation because they were informed ‘it’s an unsafe road’. State government are not making our roads safer, rail is still rooted on the spot in Cleveland, inadequate parking, but thousands new residents, rarely one car to a household, will soon bring about further congestion on local roads so why would any politician fill the Commonwealth land, that belongs to the people, with a university plus accommodation that local popular builders would eagerly undertake churning up the land.
Griffith University is close by, with room to expand as necessary. Former Capalaba councillor took an accounting course at Griffith after morning sessions while in council that we, the ratepayers, paid for. Commonwealth land is adjacent to a heritage site known as Willard Homestead built in mid-1800’s so together, must be a place that belongs to the people, all of the people, in Redland City, in my view.
It is with interest that the Councillor for Divison 6 is pushing for a fact sheet when council staff, Qld Fire Services and University of Qld had provided workshops and fact sheet for the community since 2001. Not sure where that info has gone since 2012 when Mayor Williams and her sheep were elected. The work has already been done and workshops were arranged and attended by people from Ridgewood Downs, Sheldon and Mt Cotton. Some workshops were held in Mt Cotton Hall to accommodation residents in that area and Indigiscapes also hosted the workshops, some would hope this idea is not being used to promote the election prospects for Ms Talty.