State Government to address Sunshine Coast housing affordability crisis
The State Government intends to declare Caloundra South an Urban Development Area, Premier Anna Bligh announced today.
Ms Bligh said under the declaration, planning for the Caloundra South Structure Plan site would be transferred to State Government agency the Urban Land Development Authority.
She said the decision to transfer planning for the site was made after Sunshine Coast Regional Council repeatedly failed to meet statutory planning deadlines under the Sustainable Planning Act.
“The Sunshine Coast has the highest housing prices and least affordability in the state,” Ms Bligh said.
“This was the case in October 2007 when the area known as Caloundra South was identified as one of four in the Queensland Housing Affordability Strategy.
Two of those originally identified areas being Ripley and Yarrabilba are now being progressed by the Urban Land Development Authority in partnership with Councils. Another of those areas at Coomera has attained Council approval for a structure plan and reports from Council indicate that it will be ready for approvals in the coming few months.
“Yet at Caloundra, with the potential to deliver around 23 000 homes, employment centres and transit services, planning has too often failed to be properly progressed.
Ms Bligh said council had been granted two extensions and requested a third.
She said the possible declaration could see planning approvals made in suitable early release areas in the next few months instead of the current indefinite situation. The remainder of the site will be planned by mid-2011 to support consideration of future development applications within a statutory period of no more than three months of assessment.
If the UDA is declared, the BellaVista 2 development adjacent to the Caloundra South site will also be included to ensure orderly planning outcomes for this area.
The Caloundra South site has the ability to produce up to 23,000 dwellings for 50,000 residents over the next 10 years.
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