The campaign to stop the infill of the Lake has continued unabated over past months, but nothing has swayed either the Council or the Gold Coast Turf Club. The Lake is now partially filled and the GC Turf Club apparently intends to fill it all, except for whatever small amount is needed for flood mitigation.
Last ditch efforts to arrange negotiations with the GC Turf Club came to nothing despite Wildlife Queensland’s best efforts to meet the pre-negotiation requirements apparently set by the GC Turf Club.
It is understood that Councillor Peter Young, who has defended the Lake from the beginning will put up a rescission motion to Council for the first meeting of 2019, which is aimed at withdrawing the GC Turf Club licence over the Lake.
It is no longer needed by the GC Show and possibly only used twice a year for overflow parking, so it is difficult to see what the GC Turf Club wants it for or why they should have this valuable public open space for a rental of $1 per year. The GC Turf Club continues to unfairly hold Wildlife Queensland responsible for abusive social media about the Club which has been put up on alternative social media sites by people who are not members of Wildlife Queensland and over whom Wildlife Queensland has no control.
Gecko understands that these other parties are still trying to undertake some sort of legal action to stop the filling.
It is with great sadness that we must report that 80% of the Lake has been filled in despite valiant efforts by many dedicated volunteers to prevent this happening. Since then there has been a lot of rain and the whole area has filled with water, which would seem to indicate that the Lake was put there in the first place for flood mitigation. The Turf Club apparently is not keen to maintain the remaining 20% of the Lake, (despite getting the area for $1 p.a.rental) which is still being used by a variety of birds and wildlife, with the result that Council has ordered that it be completely filled. As this has not happened yet and there is some information that a legal challenge may still be possible we await the next developments in this sorry saga.
