Desperate measures to resurrect its planned Heinemann Road sports fields project will be discussed by Redland City Council at its next general meeting on Wednesday 20 August 2025.
The Council’s current master plan for this project, adopted in 2023, provides for three rugby league fields, thirteen touch football fields and 800 car parks on 26 hectares at 277–293 Heinemann Road, Mount Cotton. This plan superseded an earlier master plan approved by Council in 2020 which included a BMX track and would have impacted on 36 hectares.
Cr Julie Talty will be asking Council to “note that The Redland Coast Sports and Recreation Precinct, has experienced significant delays and increased costs due to the ongoing assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act)”.
The delay is because the Council is pursuing an environmentally destructive master plan, adopted in November 2023, which requires clearing hundreds of trees which currently provide habitat for three species which the Federal Government classifies as vulnerable to extinction: Koala, Greater Glider and Glossy Black Cockatoo.
The Federal Government will not approve the Council’s habitat destruction unless the the Council agrees to provide and conserve an area of habitat to offset the proposed tree clearing. Such conditions are routinely imposed by the Federal Government when approving environmentally destructive projects.
In 2023 Council officers advised that the area of land required to offset the 2023 master plan could be anywhere from “approximately 1.5 hectares (best case scenario) to approximately 80 hectares (worst-case scenario)”. This is a problem for Redland City Council according to Cr Talty who says, in her notice of motion:
Council has been informally advised that the proposal may be considered unacceptable without the confirmation of land proposed for management and use in perpetuity, as offset land, on a scale challenging within the Local Government Area. It is also important to note that land expected to be used as an offset will not only need to be acquired (if not already), but also intensively managed for a minimum of 20 years. Furthermore, these offset areas are typically not suitable for public recreational activities such as dog walking, horse riding, or mountain biking, which may render the land inaccessible to ratepayers.
It seems that Redland City Council, which already has the highest rates and charges in southeast Queensland, can’t afford to provide offsets for the Heinemann Road sports fields without putting more pressure on the City’s long suffering ratepayers. In her notice of motion Cr Talty says:
Offset requirements tied to community infrastructure projects are largely classified as operational, which restricts Council’s access to funding avenues and places significant financial strain on any local council navigating the EPBC approval processes. Despite genuine efforts to balance recreational development with environmental stewardship, the scale and nature of required offsets risk rendering this important project unattainable under current legislative and funding constraints.
Because the Council has difficulty complying with Federal environment laws, Cr Talty wants Council to lobby the Federal Government “to expedite its assessment process and provide consideration to projects led by Local Councils seeking to
develop essential community and social infrastructure”. She also wants Council officers to “pursue positive progress on the EPBC assessment within six months”.
If these attempts to pressure the Federal Government fail, Cr Talty wants the Council to revert to its 2020 master plan for the Heinemann Road sports fields which was even more environmentally destructive, requiring more than 550 trees to be cleared. This would require provision of an even larger environmental offset to have any prospect of Federal Government approval.
Cr Talty’s notice of motion is item 18.1 on the meeting agenda.
Alternatives to the Heinemann Road sports fields
Instead of wasting further resources on plan which appears fatally flawed, the community may be better served if Council developed new sports fields at an alternative location. Options with “potential” already identified by the Council include:
- 20, 2-8 & 34 Giles Road, Redland Bay
- 362-388, Old Cleveland Road East, Birkdale (the Birkdale Community Precinct)
- 392 Old Cleveland Road East, Birkdale (the AirServices site north of the Birkdale Community Precinct)
- 1-37 Heinemann Road, Mount Cotton
- 79-125 Taylor Road, Sheldon
- 293 & 297-331 Rocky Passage Road, Redland Bay
Heinemann Road backstory
The Council has been planning development of a sports complex at Heinemann Road since February 2017 when it agreed to purchase the 159 hectare site from the Goleby family for $$6.68 million (excluding GST).
An officers’ report to Council on 24 May 2017 claimed that the Heinemann Road property would provide 46 hectares of sporting facilities. After Council decided to finalise the purchase, Division 6 Councillor Julie Talty said the site and Mt Cotton locality was ideally suited as a sports and recreation precinct particularly for residents in the southern part of the city.
A master plan prepared by Ross Planning was adopted by the Council on 13 May 2020 following community consultation. This plan recognized that much of the site was constrained for various reasons and only 36 hectares would be suitable for sports and recreation.
While estimates of usable area at Heinemann Road decreased, the estimated development cost for this project surged. In 2020 a report to Redland City Council by Ross Planning put the likely cost of sports fields at $40-60 million. But two years later, the estimated project cost had risen to $200 million according to a Courier Mail story published in April 2022.
On 29 November 2022 the Council reluctantly referred the project to the Federal Government for assessment under the EPBC Act. Expecting that the Federal Government would not declare the project to be a controlled action, the Council awarded a contract to Alder Constructions for Stage 1 works with a value of $61,274,400 including bulk earthworks for the entire site, delivery of Criterium and BMX facilities, regional level play space, access roads, footpaths, and car parks.
In February 2023 The federal Government surprised the Council by declaring the project to be a controlled action and requiring the Council to submit a project environmental report. The realization that the project would not be approved without a huge environmental offset caused the Council to adopt a revised master plan in November 2023. But lack of progress ultimately led to the contract with Alder Constructions being dissolved in December 2024.
Previous stories about the proposed Heinemann Road sports fields
Heinemann Road sports park on Council agenda
Plan to clear 550 trees for sports centre referred to Federal Government
Heinemann Road sports precinct will need Federal Government approvals
In 2006-2008 consultants were engaged to identify land for sporting facilities all councillors were included in consultation and the land identified was Taylor and Woodlands Drive, land was rural and suitable for a range of sports, officers supported the proposal during 2008-2012and planning started to acquire the land, during that time land owners pushed to stop the proposal as they wanted the land to be rezoned for residential so they could get more money and lobbied Williams and Talty. In 2012 both Williams and Tarly were elected and the proposal did not go ahead even though it was the most suitable and central for all of the residents . That gave some the need to continue to lobby to have the land rezoned and Williams and Talty then proceeded to purchase the land off the Golby family for $7m without a valuation months later a complete valuation was done showing the land to be worth $3.5m
Since 2012 there has been no proper thought go into suitable land for sporting fields whilst the city grows, the shortfall of land gets more pressure as approvals for housing on suitable site reduces large areas. The need for central land to suit the whole of the city not just the southern end, needs to be considered.
Regarding your article, on the basis that the information is correct, it confirms, yet again, that decisions made during the Williams era deserve reviewing to say the least. Unfortunately, with the majority of the currently elected officials, there is little chance of anything changing. KB