Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The electorate of Forde is home to one of Queensland’s oldest towns, Beenleigh. Beginning as a town in the 1860s, Beenleigh was built on sugar and is home to Australia’s oldest rum distillery. With the population explosion in South-East Queensland over the past several decades, Beenleigh has been engulfed by Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Over the years, Beenleigh has been neglected by all levels of government. Numerous consultations and studies have failed to amount to anything, yet have provided vital information for the recently released master plan. Despite a lack of investment, Beenleigh still retains much of its character, along with a very strong regional identity and community spirit. The district is home to the Beenleigh Historical Village, named Old Beenleigh Town, which transports visitors into the history of the area with period artefacts and buildings. It is now time for this historic landmark to catch up to the growth of surrounding suburbs and it is for this reason that Logan City Council is pushing for Beenleigh to fulfil the potential it has to become an important centre for its district.

The draft of the new master plan to guide Beenleigh’s growth and development over the next 20 years was released to the public this month for a period of community feedback and comment. The aim of this master plan is to overcome the previous disparate interest from all tiers of government, as well stakeholders and the private sector, in delivering town-building infrastructure in this area. The draft plan proposes to physically transform the town’s centre and includes clear proposals for land use, buildings, public space, pedestrian and traffic movement. And it is supported by a time line and a delivery strategy, something lacking in previous plans. A final version of the master plan is expected to be adopted by the council in early 2011, after consideration of all feedback during the community consultation period. This will then provide the basis for the new Beenleigh local plan to become part of the new Logan Planning Scheme and also an implementation plan, with a high level of participation by government, community and business in the next phases of detailed planning, design and delivery. Logan Mayor Pam Parker said:

The draft plan identifies key challenges and opportunities, and gives potential investors the confidence that our plan has a clear and deliverable redevelopment strategy. It identifies catalyst projects that will put the draft plan’s strategies into action in the short, medium and longer term, and would go a long way towards encouraging new investment in Beenleigh. This draft plan provides a clear vision for the town’s centre; one that takes advantage of the town’s great assets including the railway, showground and existing retail and business centre. The draft plan identifies key sites that can be successfully developed, strategies for managing traffic, population density and our future infrastructure needs.

The project is seen as one of the town’s most comprehensive planning initiatives in recent memory. With professional and public feedback, a consultation report will be published by the council before the master plan is finalised. A process has been outlined to create a compelling business case for investment in priority town-building infrastructure. Priority projects have been identified, and now the task has commenced to quantify the social and economic benefits that this community infrastructure will produce. Targeted, government-led investment in key town-building infrastructure projects will be the catalyst to stimulate further private sector investment and will enable Beenleigh to finally realise its potential as an important centre of employment, business and community services for the region.

Funding for the majority of the identified priority infrastructure will need to be sourced from a range of grants and funds. In order to secure the required level of funding, a compelling case is being developed. Of course, many of the identified priority projects will require substantial funding from a variety of sources. A key component for the success of this project will be federal government funding and investment. I look forward to working with the community, council and state and federal governments to see this important project come to fruition. (Time expired)