Background
The LNP Council administration has forced a Kuripla Precinct TLPI (Temporary local Planning Instrument) through Council, effectively suspending the City Plan, to introduce ‘No Limits’ hyper density development in South Brisbane. The Queensland Deputy Premier is now considering final approval of the TLPI with a decision due within days. TLPIs have never before been used for planning changes of this scale and should only be used as an emergency measure to “address a significant environmental, social, or cultural risk”.
An excuse for no limits development
This Kurilpa Precinct TLPI is a dangerous and unprecedented abuse of power which bypasses even the minimal community consultation provided by Queensland’s planning system. This undemocratic move by the LNP will line the pockets of their developer mates by gifting them millions of dollars in increased property values. The LNP’s only vision for Brisbane seems to be the ‘fastest growing city in Australia’. To achieve their hyper density development ambitions, they callously use the 2032 Olympics and the housing crisis as excuses to circumvent the City Plan. Using a TLPI to suspend the City Plan in South Brisbane is just the beginning, with the Lord Mayor spruiking 50 storey towers and more TLPIs across the city including Albion, Chermside, Toowong, Mt Gravatt, Herston, Woolloongabba and more.
No Affordable Housing
This ‘hyper density’ TLPI will not deliver affordable housing and will worsen the housing crisis. There is no mandated housing affordability mechanism within the Kurilpa Precinct TLPI; only a completely optional commitment to set rents 10% less than the market rate for 20% of dwellings for 5 years. This poorly made mechanism will do nothing for housing affordability with local rents already so high. If the TLPI was serious about housing affordability it would have included an inclusionary zoning mechanism that guaranteed 25% of dwellings became public housing.
Slowing down housing supply
The LNP administration claims they are “suspending…the planning scheme” to increase housing stock. But this TLPI will reduce the short-term housing supply by replacing 30-storey towers with 2-year build times with 90-storey towers with 6-year build times. Our existing City Plan already provides ample opportunity for sustainable growth in housing. We support medium-density (20-40 dwellings/ha) and high-density (40+ dwellings/ha) development that creates livable and healthy habitats with sufficient greenspace and public infrastructure. We do not need the ‘no limits’ hyperdensity of over 1,000 dwellings/ha, which the LNP is railroading through without public discussion or community support.
Developers profit, communities suffer
According to the LNP administration’s own sustainable development policies, an additional 22,000 residents moving into an area would require at least 11 hectares of additional greenspace. But this TLPI only provides 2.2 hectares of new greenspace, for a total of 3.5 hectares. No new community facilities have been announced. There is no plan to expand the capacity of local schools which are already bursting at the seams. And there is no consideration for how to evacuate residents from 90 storey towers when the next major flood hits Brisbane. This is an undemocratic power grab by the LNP that will worsen the housing crisis and leave the residents of Brisbane all around worse off.
Email the Deputy Premier using template below
The Deputy Premier is also the Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning. He decides whether or not to reject the LNP’s bypass of democracy.
Let this Labor government know we need affordable housing now, not hyper density by emailing Deputy Premier Steven Miles. Use the below email template for a quick and easy way to send a message directly to him, with some key messages that point out sections in the Planning Act, and give reasons under those sections for rejecting the LNP’s overreaching planning instrument.
Your submission will be most powerful if you personalise the email with your own views on delivering affordable housing now, defending democratic process, and defending disaster flood zones from hyper development.