Grand plans for the Cleveland Aquatic Centre to be redeveloped into a surf life saving centre of excellence have been abandoned after Surf Life Saving Queensland (SLSQ) said it was bailing out.
When the surf life-saving centre of excellence plan was publicly unveiled in November 2015, a few months before the 2016 local council elections, the prospect of hundreds of local jobs was raised by Mayor Karen Williams.
“SLSQ has estimated 200 ongoing full time local jobs could be created if their headquarters moved to the Redlands, with hundreds of extra jobs during construction.” she said in a Council news release.
On 10 August 2016 Councillors endorsed a confidential business case prepared by Deloittes and ratified a memorandum of understanding with SLSQ. The project was initially estimated to cost $50-$60 million. In October 2017 when the signing of an agreement with Surf Life Saving Queensland was announced, the estimated cost was $71 million.
The project was only ever going to happen if most of the capital costs were funded with grants from the Federal or State governments. Clearly, neither level of government considered that the project would be a good use for taxpayers’ money so the project remained unfunded.
Yet just a few months ago the Council was discussing land swap deals with the State Government to facilitate plans for development of the new aquatic centre.
When will Council have to upgrade the Aquatic Centre?
As well as providing training facilities for life savers the project with Surf Life Saving Queensland was supposedly going to “include four new public pools and potentially other facilities such as water play areas”, according to the Council’s October 2017 news release.
The Cleveland Aquatic Centre is nearing the end of its life. A few years ago the cost of refurbishing the Cleveland pool was estimated by Council to cost approximately $20 million. Remnant life of the current facility was recently put at eight years by an unnamed council spokesperson.
But wait, Council has a new water play plan
On Wednesday Council endorsed a proposal by Mayor Karen Williams to investigate the feasibility of a combined whitewater rafting/canoeing and emergency training facility which could be Redlands contribution to south east Queensland’s 2032 Olympic Games bid.
The Bulletin reports that Cr Williams has met with the International Canoe Federation, visited the Sydney Olympics whitewater rafting facility at Penrith and is investigating a potential visit to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics white water rafting venue.
Redlands2030 – 18 July 2019
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2 Comments
There are some honest, hard working councillors in Redland City Council. Even the Deputy Mayor has expressed deep concern over voting within Council to allow construction of so much medium to high density housing in the Redlands while roads remain virtually unchanged. But what overall effect have these honest individuals had on Council decisions in relation to high density development? The answer is for all to see. We know that disgraced Mayor Paul Pisisale is before the Courts at the present time on more charges. We know that his whole Council was dismissed yet some of them were very diligent people. But overall the Council failed the residents of Ipswich. Then we have Mayor Luke Smith of Logan City Council, who has been sacked in disgrace. We now know that Redland City Council (RCC) is under the spotlight of the CCC and there have been many complaints from residents and groups like Birkdale Progress Association and Redlands 2030. A couple of councillors, whom I will not name, have told me in confidence that they are being extremely cautious with voting because they know that investigations are taking place. In the Redlands we have to ask ourselves – is RCC making decisions in the best interests of the residents they represent? My conclusion is NO they are not. I will only mention three of the recent development debacles that have embroiled RCC. Shoreline, Weinham Creek and Toondah Harbour. The latter one alone is now becoming known Australia wide for poor decisions made within RCC and QLD Labor State Government. Elections are being held next year and many residents can’t wait to express themselves at the Ballot Box.
Wow white water rafting, don’t think Tingalpa Creek or Coolnwynpin Creek would cut the plan. So you would need fast water rushing down a hill and being pumped back up hill in a rural area, I just won’t be surprised if Mt Cottön near Mountview Road could be a selected spot. Ideal if there were cabins for users to use close by with a venue to entertain a large group. Good opportunity to get a paid trip to the 2020 Olympics.