Redland City Council decided at its meeting on 15 October to hold off on fixing a land zoning anomaly affecting 160 hectares of land at Heinemann Road which the Council bought in 2017 for development of new sports fields.
The reason given for not moving now to fix the anomaly, is that offering to do the fix could be a bargaining chip in the Council’s long-running negotiations with the Federal Government about project approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
This was explained during the Council meeting on 15 October 2025 when Cr Julie Talty said [at time 4:49 on the video]:
The proposal to not move forward with this at the moment doesn’t mean we won’t move forward with it. It simply means at the moment at this point in time it’s more advantageous for us to go through the EPBC approval and be able to offer changing this zoning as part of the package that we offer the EPBC assessment. So that is why this is not moving forward now. It is not that it won’t move forward in the future. It’s simply timely for us right now, to allow the [EPBC] assessment to play out.
So what is the Heinemann Road zoning anomaly, and will Council’s offer to fix it impress the Federal Government?
The Heinemann Road zoning anomaly
Redland City Council discussed purchasing 277-293 Heinemann Road confidentially at a meeting on 24 May 2017. At this time, the partly cleared northern portion (48 hectares) intended for sports fields was zoned Rural Non Urban and the heavily vegetated southern portion (112 hectares ) was zoned Conservation. These zonings were as set out in the Redlands Planning Scheme 2006 Version 7.1.
The environmental values of the land zoned Conservation were recognized by the Council when it decided to purchase the property. The proportion of the property area zoned Conservation (about 70%) was funded with money collected through the Council’s Environment Levy on ratepayers.
Meanwhile, the Council was in the final stages of finalizing a new planning scheme. In the new planning scheme, known as the Redland City Plan, the Council intended that all privately owned land outside the urban footprint would be zoned Rural. The rationale given by officers for this change was that an Environmental Significance overlay would be applied where appropriate to protect environmental values.
So when the Council sent its draft City Plan off to the State Government for consideration and ministerial approval in March 2017, the zoning maps showed that all the land at 277-293 Heinemann road (still privately owned by the Goleby family) would be zoned Rural.
The Council settled its purchase of 277-293 Heinemann Road on 26 June 2017. From this date onward, the Council-owned land at Heinemann Road which was zoned Conservation under the Redlands Planning Scheme 2006, should have been zoned Conservation under the new Redland City Plan.
When Redland City Council finally adopted the new Redland City Plan on 6 July 2018, 112 hectares of Council owned land with obvious environmental values and paid for with Environment Levy money was rezoned from Conservation (dark green) to Rural (very light green).
This should not have happened. The Council had had several months, after becoming the landowner, to arrange with the State Government for the publicly owned land zoned Conservation at Heinemann Road under the 2006 planning scheme, to retain this zoning under the new City Plan.
Officers recommend Heinemann Road zoning amendments
In January 2022, December 2022 and October 2025, Council officers recommended zoning changes at 277-293 Heinemann Road, proposing that the northern portion of the northern lot be zoned Recreation and Open Space with the rest of the property zoned Conservation, much like it was in 2017.
in January 2022, Councillors decided instead that they wanted the whole of the northern lot zoned Recreation and Open Space and the southern lot to stay Rural. This was rejected by the State Government.
In December 2022 Council officers explained (slowly) why councillors should approve rezoning of land from Rural to Conservation, saying:
Given the significant amount and values of the vegetation in the balance area and the intended use of the site, the rural zone, with its purpose to provide for a wide range of primary production activities while protecting natural resources and significant environmental and landscape values, is not considered suitable. The conservation zone, with its purpose to provide for the protection of land which supports significant biological diversity and ecological functions, is considered an appropriate zone for the balance area.
Councillors responded by arbitrarily drawing a new line across the northern lot) to expand the area zoned for Recreation and Open Space. This proposed zone change has also been rejected by the State Government.
In October 2025 Council officers yet again recommended that the land at 277-293 be rezoned, as required by the State Government. On this occasion councillors decided to remove the Heinemann Road zoning item from the proposed package of major amendments to the City Plan.
What will the Federal Government think?
We could imagine bureaucrats in the Federal Environment Department saying:
So the Council is offering that it will rezone 112 hectares of land which was zoned Conservation seven years ago back to Conservation, fixing an oversight / anomaly / mistake of the Council’s own making? What else have you got to offer?
Further reading
Redlands2030 has written about the Council’s purchase of 277-293 Heinemann Road (Part 1), plans for new sports and recreation facilities on this land (Part 2), and the Federal Government’s assessment of impacts of the Council’s proposed development on Koala habitat (Part 3).
What a disgrace Talty is, a division full of beautiful trees and the most environmental values in Redlands on the mainland and all she wants to do is trash it, shameful conduct.
I totally agree with you. It appears that the Council constantly wants to destroy beautiful areas of Redlands – to meet their own agenda – regardless of the species of protected wildlife living there. SHAME on them……