Speech by Councillor Seal Chong Wah, to full Brisbane City Council Council Meeting, Tues 5th Nov 2024
Speaking to the Local Government Infrastructure Plan (LGIP) amendment 1B.
Unfortunately the amendment to both the 20 year, long term infrastructure plan (LTIP) and the 10 year Local Government Infrastructure plan (LGIP), being voted on by this council today, does not provide anywhere near the required amount of ‘new greenspace’ required for our cities growth.
As part of this amendment to the Local Government Infrastructure plan (LGIP), we are seeing quite a few greenspace projects being brought forward from the Long Term Infrastructure Plan (LTIP) to the LGIP. I applaud that.
However we are seeing most of the investment in parks through spending money on new embellishments. Investing in upgrading existing parks. In many parts of the city we are not seeing investment in new parks, the acquiring of new land. Just one example in my local Ward, is the $2million project within the LGIP to upgrade the Milton Urban Commons, which is still a relatively new park.
What we really need in this high density area, what local residents are pleading for is a new larger park. At a recent residents forum where we went through various options to make the high density part of Milton more livable, residents identified an extension to the existing park, as the most effective and achievable way. In fact I have already written to Councillor Adam Allan asking if we could move the $2 million to instead buy an adjacent property that is currently advertised for a similar amount. This land purchase would extend the urban commons and be a far better investment for this community, than new embellishments for a park that is already too small.
Seven weeks later there is still no response from Councillor Allan, and of course the answer will be no, because it’s not in the LGIP. The reality is, that this Council cannot even meet their own existing standards for the amount of greenspace required for the population. So today, hidden within this amendment to the Local Government Infrastructure Plan (LGIP), is a reduction of our ‘Desired Standards of Service’ for greenspace.
Our existing ‘standards of service’ for both parks and sports fields combined is 4.2 hectares per 1,000 people. In the amendment to the LGIP - being voted on by this council, this standard is being reduced to 4 hectares per 1,000 people. A reduction of .2 hectares per 1,000 people. Well, that may not sound like much. However this reduction by .2 hectares equates to a reduction in our city-wide target for greenspace by ‘290 hectares’ for Brisbane’s projected population in 12 years.
290 hectares by the year 2036. 290 hectares is a massive loss of potential greenspace, for the future of our city - through this one seemingly minor change. Greenspace is integral to a city that is sustainable, a city that is healthy and a city that promotes community.
We are talking about enough sports fields, so everyone can play the sport they choose, parks that are close enough for families to walk to, greenspace with trees and vegetation for our wellbeing and health. And we are talking about a city that can cope with the emerging challenges of the climate change crisis. This council has not been sufficiently investing in greenspace for the last 20 years, despite a population growth of over 100,000 people, which is why they are now reducing our greenspace targets.
The changes to the desired standards of service, within this LGIP amendment, suggest that this council will not be investing in enough new greenspace as long as we have an LNP council.