Your last opportunity to join over 5000 others in signing the Reform of Queensland Planning Legislation Petition by Lois Levy. Very few e-petitions to state parliament attract such strong community support, with this Petition in the top 5%.
Please sign the petition which can be accessed here.
Gold Coasters are fed up with loss of neighbourhood character, environmental destruction and traffic congestion, caused by badly planned development. The current planning laws allow far too many relaxations of planning scheme requirements with no perceivable community benefit. The result is apartment blocks over height limits, increased density, no setbacks to enable landscaping, car stackers instead of parking, and no consideration of cumulative impact in neighbourhoods.
Better planning laws would impose more controls on building heights, residential density and provision of open space which would give the community more certainty about what the future holds for their neighbourhood.
The petition was initiated by an Alliance of South East Queensland community groups in response to widespread concerns about poorly planned developments approved by local councils and state governments over many years.
The SEQ Alliance accepts that population growth will continue and that urban infill can assist in managing this, but the number of developments that exceed planning requirements is out of control.
SEQ Alliance spokesperson Lois Levy said the petition empowered people to tell politicians in both major parties that they must do more to preserve the heritage and character of places where people live, protect and expand green spaces and conserve habitat of koalas and other wildlife.
An Overview of the Petition Eligible to All Queensland Residents
TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House the South East Queensland (SEQ) residents’ concerns about Queensland’s planning laws which favour developers’ interests over community interests leading to loss of:
- Quality of life, heritage and neighbourhood character
- Green open space and conservation areas
- Koala and other wildlife habitat
- Convenient and timely travel
- Services and infrastructure capacity to meet population needs
Your petitioners accept the benefits of the urban footprint infill concept but request the House, as a matter of great importance and urgency, to review and improve planning laws so that they put community interests first, through:
- Enhancing community amenity, heritage and neighbourhood character
- Providing green and open spaces in SEQ at world’s best practice standard
- Integrating land and transport planning to avoid transport congestion
- Conserving koala and other wildlife habitat
- Ensuring adequate provision of infrastructure and services to support development
- Increasing certainty to communities in relation to development compliance with designated building heights, density, setbacks, off-street parking and private community space
- Making most developments subject to genuine public scrutiny and objection
- Requiring all developers to declare their public and community benefits in terms other than jobs creation.
- Requiring full transparency of council and government decision-making including genuine community consultation
- Protecting the community from impacts of climate change
You can read the SEQ Alliance Media Release of 29th January 2019 on the subject here.
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