This weeks Letters to the Redlands2030 Editor cover concerns over development in Redland Bay, environmental impacts of the Toondah residential development plans and the Mayor’s election promises.
More congestion coming soon
The State Labor Government have let us down badly with respect to sustainable development in the Redlands.
I feel sorry for residents of Redland Bay, who have to wait for multiple traffic light changes in the mornings just to get onto Redland Bay Road.
Now Redland Council in conjunction with the State government want to build a whole new housing development in that large area behind the local Mitre10. This will add further congestion and all we hear is that a 3rd set of lights may be installed next year at Giles Road.
This is too little too late.
We have to ask, what are our LNP members doing to alleviate this traffic congestion and removal of large areas of koala gum trees?
DT
Victoria Point
“Official” Vandalism
Dear Editor
I read this week on the front page of our local paper, the Redland City Bulletin 24 May 2017, of the commitment with our Council to protect the mangroves in the Redlands from vandalism by setting up “a special group to crackdown on the issue.” Can it be assumed that this also extends to vandalism at the hands of the developers.
The Walker Corporation, who, in their proposal for Toondah Harbour, rather than merely upgrading the ferry terminal and facilities and building dwellings on land, intend to cut down mangroves and destroy a sensitive ecological marine environment. This Corporation has a very poor environment protection record.
Notwithstanding the legal problems of the Corporation has had since 2006 it has not even seen fit to adopt an Environmental Policy because it “is not a publicly listed company” (Walker Referral to Federal Department of the Environment No. 2017/7939 Paragraph 6.3.1). Since when should a company have to be legally forced to protect the environment! The Walker Corporation has repeatedly destroyed the environment first and then paid the fine. Can it be trusted with such a sensitive area as Toondah Harbour?
It is simply not necessary to build 3,600 dwellings on reclaimed land in Moreton Bay. Once the environment has been ruined there is no amount of money that can reverse it!
I trust the special group set up to protect Redlands mangroves will also protect them from thoughtless developers. These mangroves support community activities such as fishing, protect the coastline from erosion, are vital natural resources providing shelter, food and nursery areas to fish species and are important to coastal ecosystems.
I applaud all efforts to save our environment for the children of the future! Is it enough?
BD
Cleveland
Make council transparent
By chance I was doing some dumping of waste and found this little gem, election commitments of Mayor Karen Williams.
It set me to ponder on the “make Council more transparent” election pledge. In so doing I wondered how the Council has been able to ignore the Ombudsman recommendation after a few local residents were threatened with defamation by Council.
This was a shameful case where a group of locals very angry about a development that had trashed a large corridor of Koala food trees, trees that regularly had Koala using them. About 5 people had made comments. Too shut them up they were threatened by Council with legal action.
One lady was not going to let this go so contacted the Ombudsman who before Xmas 2016 released a report regarding this shameful situation. The report was very damning on the Mayor, CEO and solicitor.
There was a recommendation to have the residents be given an apology but 5 months later they are all still waiting for this action.
Former Councillor Deb Henry initiated a petition (signed by over 160 people) to push for some action. A month and two General Meetings have passed and nothing has been done.
Council policy on petitions requires petitions to go to full council to be voted on.
There are 10 Councillors surely one of those has the courage to stand up and make the Mayor accountable for the actions criticised by the Ombudsman. Admittedly, some of the current Councillors were not in council at the time of the action but they must not accept responsibility for the non response to the Ombudsman’s report.
I read the transcripts by some Mayor’s in SEQ being grilled by CCC and thought how poor our representation has become and think they must all believe they are above the law.
Anyone reading the Mayor’s election pledge (to make council more transparent), give your thoughts if you think if that has been fulfilled.
So my final comment is to those 10 Divisional Councillors now holding office.
The Problem is now yours and Council’s inaction on the Ombudsman’s Report is happening on your watch.
TB
Sheldon
Send your comments by letter to: thereporter@redlands2030.net
Redlands2030 – 31 May 2017
Please note: Offensive or off-topic comments will be deleted. If offended by any published comment please email thereporter@redlands2030.net
Regarding what is said here about congestion and how a Victoria Pt resident is feeling sorry for Redland Bay residents suffering long waiting periods to get through traffic lights just to reach Redland Bay Road.
What will congestion be like when thousands more dwellings are built in Redland City if State government choose to be deaf dumb and blind to an urgent need today for Deputy Premier Jackie Trad to get going on road infrastructure before we are all gridlocked on suburban roads leading out of the city where most workers are employed. It seems all that our politicians who obviously walk around with blinkers on, are interested in, is seeing 1ooo or so construction jobs in the housing industry that bring jobs, jobs, jobs into the Redland workforce.
Feel sorry too for those of us who live beside roads with no protective pollution barriers considering that developers don’t need to leave any, and, since most motor vehicles today are powered by diesel, a known carcinogenic, expect to see more cancer sufferers as the population grows along with motor vehicles.
In this week’s Redland City Bulletin, noticed an article on ‘electric vehicles’ where it says in part: ” MTA Qld CEO Brett Dale said it as clear that electric and hybrid vehicles were the way of the future and it was pleasing to see the government taking the right steps to support the uptake. Electric hybrid and low emission vehicles were the next big thing to hit vehicle transportation in Australia, he said”.
Sounds great…but don’t believe I will live long enough to see this form of transportation in SEQ. The average person would not be able to afford to buy an electric car…in the meantime, most of us will have to survive best we can on increasingly health destroying polluted air.
Council is definitely not more accountable and there was another pledge, to do something about the congestion on our main feeder roads like Cleveland-Redland Bay Road. That congestion has got dramatically worse over this last 2 years.
Does anyone else consider that Walker Group’s development catastrophe proposed at Toondah Harbour is the urban planning equivalent of Adani’s ill-omened Carmichael coal mine? Both are environmentally unsustainable, big time. Both will harm precious protected marine ecosystems. Both can’t stand up without purloined public assets. Both are vigorously opposed. Neither will deliver jobs. Unbelievably, both are promoted by hypocritical governments shilling for disingenuous actors. In whose name?
Make Council more transparent, that was the promise but things are getting more and more blurred.
The sad saga of the Ombudsman’s report…a reliance on “workshops” to make decisions, record short general meetings, torpedoed public petitions, moves to “code assessment” and ubiquitous delegations and of course the reliance on RIC to confound the community on the management and sale of public assets.
Could R2030 call for a community audit of council transparency?
It shouldn’t take too long!!!