Community
4 April, 2025
Let’s cool it
PEOPLE avoided the Cairns central business district in the middle of summer because it was too hot, a Cairns Regional Council meeting has been told.
Cr Rob Pyne, who represents division five which includes the CBD, told councillors it was crucial the council planted more trees and implemented other measures to cool down the concrete jungle.
Cr Pyne said his division five had the most “heat islands” in the city.
“Honestly, parts of our CBD in the middle of summer, it’s almost inhumane the temperatures,” he said.
“Maybe we need to think about more trees in the CBD and, sure, that may mean we lose a car park or two every now and then.
“The problem with the CBD at the moment is people don’t want to go there, it’s not a pleasant place to be, especially in the middle of summer.”
Cr Pyne said a “nice canopy needed to be established over the inner city so it’s cooler and a really enjoyable place to be”.
Last month councillors decided to apply for a $140,000 grant to develop a heatwave and urban heat adaption plan to cool down the CBD and other areas of the city.
A council report found that the CBD, as well as Portsmith, Westcourt, Parramatta Park, Woree, Earlville, White Rock and Edmonton hit temperatures as high as 48 degrees in the summer of 2022.
The report also found that a council study by James Cook University in 2021 found that temperatures in the CBD were seven degrees above what was recorded as normal by the Bureau of Meteorology.
But, it said, greening of the city by the council since then had reduced heat in the inner city by five degrees over two years.
Cr Anna Middleton (Div. 7) said major heatwaves, like that experienced in Cairns, had caused more deaths since 1890 than bushfires, cyclones, earthquakes, floods and severe storms combined.
She said it was vital “to mitigate heat”.
“Considering that in about 60 years Cairns is projected to spend a third of the year in heatwave conditions,” Cr Middleton said.
She said Cairns was listed in the top five local government areas in Queensland for vulnerability to heat, poor health, hot spots, economic disadvantage and access to green spaces.
Cr Brett Moller said Cairns had the largest green canopy in Australia.
But to retain that, the council had to extend the canopy layer, he said.
Mayor Amy Eden said a 2020 community survey showed people supported the loss of car parks for more trees and wanted to see that “leaf index” grow.
She said more broadly, work was being done to use road bases made up of recycled products and other materials that did not hold the heat.
