Community
25 May, 2024
Housing anger
DEVELOPERS are furious after an $80 million 706-lot residential development at Edmonton was refused by Cairns Regional Council.
Councillors at last Wednesday’s council meeting unanimously rejected the preliminary approval sought by the Fortress Group to subdivide caneland on Mt Peter Rd south of Mt Peter Estate.
They accepted the knock back by council officers who in a 134-page report outlined 29 reasons, including that it was premature and out of sequence, failed to provide housing diversity, failed to provide a proper network of safe and efficient roads and would require costly and unplanned council trunk infrastructure. But Urban Development Institute of Australia Cairns board chairman Nathan Lee Long, the board and its members are “deeply concerned” with the council’s decision.
He said it was apparent that the council had lost sight of the significant need for housing in Cairns and their role in ensuring serviced land was available. “Cairns is now in a situation where the Mount Peter area, that was declared a master planned area in 2008, has not been provided the trunk infrastructure required to service new homes,” Mr Lee Long said.
He said the decision went against the declared master plan and would bring housing construction to a halt.
“The decision made by council goes against the declared master plan and places a roadblock that will stop industry in its tracks in the very near future,” he said.
“Unnecessarily adding to the lack of housing in Cairns, is forcing up rents and house prices.”
Mr Lee Long said the UDIA estimated that construction activity would half within the next 12 to 18 months because of the lack of suitable development land.
“In addition to the potential loss of jobs within trades and services in Cairns, there is the potential for a significant impact to the community and sporting organisations that many of our construction business support,” he said.
Mr Lee Long said after the refusal of the development application it was estimated the number of approved lots in Cairns would fall by another 500-600 lots in 2024, forcing the future land supply to be 35 per cent below the rolling average.
Mr Lee Long said Mayor Amy Eden and the council had declined to meet the institute which offered to hold a ‘Cairns Housing Supply Roundtable’ to work together to place a sharp focus on current market conditions, obstacles to housing delivery and key opportunities to boost housing supply, which has been
Cr Brett Moller (division 1), who represents the area, said the proposal was “was well out of sequence” in the planning for the area with a lot of green space between it and other residential developments further north.
He said there was lack of diversified home styles and choices and the design was like a grid-like pattern. It was “not the right time” for the project.
Cr Matthew Tickner (division 2), who is an experienced civil design and urban development specialist, said the application was “testing the planning scheme” – something developers had been successful previously, but not in this case.
He said the southern corridor was “a most important area and we must ensure we get it right”.
Cr Tickner said the development had “long stretches of roads and tiny parcels of land”.
