By David Hinchliffe
David Hinchliffe is a former Brisbane City Councillor (1988-2012) and former Deputy Mayor (2004-2008).
Aren’t you sick of being told by Councils and developers we need extra development because of the ‘housing crisis’?
When someone wants to get extra development on their site, they shout “housing crisis”! Let’s be real. Almost all development in the inner city is for million-dollar units or multi-million dollar houses.
Someone should explain to Council: THERE IS NO HOUSING CRISIS FOR MILLIONAIRES.
Take my street for example — Hynes St, Fortitude Valley.
This little two storey residential community of mostly tin and timber houses is about to get a 16-storey residential tower right on top of our hill – to help address the housing crisis!
Its height and scale are completely in contradiction of the neighbourhood plan (which Council’s own planners have admitted). It will probably be approved by Council because, as our Councillor told a delegation of local residents, “There’s a housing crisis”.
The proposal is for one unit for each of the 16 floors with a retail price likely in excess of $2m each.
There’s no shortage of million-dollar housing in the inner suburbs.
There is a crisis in housing for people who work in our city and help make it function…but this 16-storey tower won’t be housing nurses, office workers, police officers etc.
The ‘housing crisis’ is not a justification for permitting flagrant violations of neighbourhood plans.
I used to be the Chairman of Council’s committee which oversaw development and planning in this city.
We encouraged Council town planners to meet with local residents when deciding applications – especially controversial ones. We invited residents to speak directly to Councillors and BCC town planners about their concerns.
These days, planners are kept away from residents. They make their decisions in ivory towers. They can meet only with developers, not with residents.
What sort of results do you expect from that process!
Hynes St residents have also been told that we have to take into account “the tough economic times developers are going through”.
The poor developer.
In our case, the developer bought this property more than quarter of a century ago. He has done nothing with any of the five Queenslander homes that were there until one month ago when all but one was demolished. The tenants were evicted six months ago.
I don’t know what the developer paid to buy the land last century nor the cost of demolition but I’m pretty sure, he’s already millions of dollars ahead on his original investment.
We shouldn’t be crying any tears for the ‘poor’ developer.
We should be crying for a planning system that is fundamentally broken.
Council planning shapes our neighbourhoods – our front yards, back yards, amenity, views, traffic in our street etc.
We need to take back control of the process.
—
The developer, John Homewood, has said he has been proactive in meeting residents and has met them on several occasions for them to share their concerns.
He said concerns over the height and scale are “ill-founded”.
“It will transform that whole area, which I think is sadly needed. I think it’s a very positive move for that precinct… This is not a block of flats, it is a prestige development which will transform that area.
“The buildings around that area are a lot higher than that one, so I don’t see why it is such a concern. In terms of the scale of it, it is not dissimilar to a lot of other buildings that are down there,” Mr Homewood said.
Do we need to change our planning system? Have your say – email editorial@village-voice.com.au.
