Cleveland MP Mark Robinson calls for more commuter parking at the Cleveland train station
Plans to construct 124 apartments in the northern car park of Cleveland train station will no longer have the support of State MP for Cleveland Dr Mark Robinson.
In a speech to Parliament on 18 August the LNP backbencher accused Labor of stealing car parks from his electorate.
“Tonight I announce that I am withdrawing my support for the redevelopment of Cleveland station in its present form due to the low car park numbers and development change of use. I call on the government to urgently review the situation” said Dr Robinson.
Cleveland MP Dr Mark Robinson
Dr Robinson told Parliament:
The car parks were promised and there was a community expectation. However, it has gone mysteriously quiet.
Frustrated commuters complain that there is never enough parking at Cleveland station.
At a time when governments are encouraging the use of public transport, it has to be questioned why appropriate facilities are not being made available.
The redevelopment of Cleveland station should have brought much extra commuter parking—that was the original plan—but the very low number has created angst amongst residents who live in the immediate vicinity and those who utilise the station for their daily commute.
My consultations with the community have revealed high levels of objection to this development among nearby residents.
Body corporates around the area are very unhappy and object to it in its current form, particularly around the parking.
LNP plan for a mixed-purpose transport hub
Northern car park of the Cleveland train station
The LNP government invited proposals for a mixed use transport hub development at the Cleveland train station in April 2014.
At the time Dr Robinson spoke in favour of the project saying it would result in more car parks at the station, as reported in the Bulletin.
About nine months after the LNP lost government development application MCU013612 was quietly lodged by Envisage Development Management.
Details of the proposal were first explained to the community by Redlands2030 in its report: Cleveland train station development plans.
Envisage’s proposed development
The development proposed by Envisage and the State Government involves 124 residential apartments in two eight story towers built over public and private car parking.
About six of the apartments will be designated as short stay tourism accommodation units.
A small kiosk, to be built where a large gum tree currently grows, is also included in the plans.
The project appears to be residential apartments dressed up as a mixed use development.
Envisage is proposing a net increase of 17 parking bays for rail commuters, a gain of just 7.2%. For the residential apartments, 31 visitor car parks would normally be required for a development of this size but none will be provided according to the developer’s Traffic Engineering Report.
The Labor Government has refused to disclose what Envisage is paying for the right to build apartments on public land.
Redlands2030 – 20 August 2016
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5 Comments
A solution would be to make a train station at victoria point/redland bay. New estates comming up in thornlands, redland bay not to mention shoreline will place too much pressure on cleveland train station. A new train station will cost considerably, however the population growth now justifies it.
Mark Robinson’s change of approach is correct in the sense that Cleveland Train Station needs mor car parks yet he fails to recognise that the extra spaces the developer is providing are extra spaces that are not going to materialise unless the council changes it’s height limits to 15-20 levels which would enable the car parking to be doubled or trebled.
That is possibly too outside the realm of reality so let the project proceed as it will have an employment benefit to a town which desperately needs jobs and will move Cleveland one step closer to becoming a functioning area.
A previous comment was spot on in suggesting an out of town parking solution with buses ferrying commuters in peak hours.
It cannot be too hard to do.
The anti development voices predictably come from local residents whose views over Raby bay will be no more or impaired.
When they bought their apartments they would have been aware that at some stage the under utilised land at the train station would be redeveloped and their unfettered views would change.
Cleveland Train Station needs redeveloping on so many levels. An MP listening to disgruntled apartment purchasers is just politics.
To get a real answer just do a quick survey of the struggling retail outlets at Raby Bay Harbourside and you will find a totally different response.
Redlands is backward enough as it is. Should not let it fall further behind natural progression.
Reliable public transport to and from the train station would help resolve current and future parking problems. However, planning for future use must be realistic and based on accurate projections. This decision seems to be yet another example of government overriding public needs in the interest of private gain.
Where has Robinson been for the past few years, where was he when Seeney gave the Toondah project to Walker and made it a PDA, if he thinks the railway station is going to be a parking nightmare he ain’t seen nothing until 10,000 people and lots of commercial business move into Toondah. That doesn’t include the thousands that will live in the units in Cleveland.
Driving along Redland Bay Rd yesterday, noticed hundreds of houses nearing completion along the route plus cleared land ready to be built on. Seems to me parking at Cleveland Station remains the same, year in year out so now lack of parking is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with. Commuter mini-buses a.m. and p.m. rush hours to meet with City train time tables is one method of getting commuters who use the train leaving the car at home. Designated pick up and drop off locations at various housing estates could be considered.
On rare occasions when traveling to City by train, never try parking at Birkdale rail station as it’s packed. Normally find a space at Thorneside station where there is room to expand.
In 1987 rail line was progressed to Cleveland from there…it should go further to Redland Bay but can’t see that happening in the near or distant future. Trains are a clean and safe way to travel but we continue to build, widen roads, with resulting vehicle crashes all too often that kill and maim many people on increasingly busy roads in Qld shattering lives of families.