Greens MP says approval of Tricare development in Taringa is a sign our planning laws are broken
“There’s a lot of detail to work through, but it seems clear that the amended proposal still doesn’t go anywhere near meeting community expectations.
“The worst part is that we’ve seen this story so many times before.
“Big developers propose something totally outrageous, then when that’s knocked back, they ‘compromise’ with something that’s still totally inappropriate.
“This decision is not just bad luck for residents - it’s part of a fundamentally broken planning system stacked in favour of wealthy developers.
“Council’s initial refusal of this proposal reflected the broad view in my community. But the planning system doesn’t even allow BCC to defend its decisions on the rare occasion it listens to the community and does the right thing by locals.
“Thousands of residents have asked the Labor State government to overhaul our Planning Act.*
“This is something I’ve previously called for, and I’ll continue to push for key reforms including:
- making all major developments impact assessable (where TriCare’s application was, outrageously enough, code assessable)
- making neighbourhood plans binding; and
- making height limits binding to end special deals for developers.
“Local residents shouldn’t have had to fight an expensive, year-long legal battle just to try to have their voice heard.
“During the 2017 State election, the LNP had some of their worst results in Taringa, where local residents were really frustrated by the code assessment of TriCare’s application, and inappropriate development throughout our suburbs.
“The Greens will be running a big Council campaign in Walter Taylor, with a fantastic candidate who’ll stand with residents sick of these developer-first decisions.
“If I were Cr James Mackay, I wouldn’t be getting too comfortable in my new office.”
*https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/new-south-east-queensland-environment-alliance-calls-for-planning-overhaul-20190208-p50wkq.html