A number of development applications involving properties located in the area between Beckett Road and Cabbage Tree Creek have become a cause for concern for Bridgeman Downs residents worried about the future of this wildlife corridor.
Three sites on Beckett Road are currently the subject of development applications that lie within a key wildlife corridor, and locals fear the area is now under threat because of these proposals.
North Brisbane Catchments said that the area should have been rezoned years ago to keep developers from touching this important wildlife corridor. A local survey conducted by the group has indicated that a majority of residents want to preserve the area. Development applications involving properties on 409 and 432 Beckett Road have been submitted since.
Last December 2022, a number of trees on 409 Beckett Road were felled without council approval. A development application followed a month later seeking approval to subdivide the 10,139 sqm site into 12 residential lots ranging from 377 sqm to 633 sqm.
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In its Information Request letter dated 1 March 2023, Council said that the application has been identified as not supported due because it is “deemed premature and does not demonstrate orderly development of the surrounding properties or consider future access to the minor local road network.”
Council also said, among other reasons, that significant vegetation is identified on the site because of its important function in providing ecological connectivity to Cabbage Tree Creek, and the vegetation should be retained in large lifestyle lots.
Meanwhile, a development application involving 415 and 427 Beckett Road which was refused in May 2020 is currently being appealed at the Planning and Environment Court. It seeks to establish a petrol station, a fast food outlet, a childcare facility and ten townhouses.
Brisbane Catchments Network said that the majority of the site is listed by the State Government as Core Koala Habitat apart from being situated within a core wildlife corridor that is home to significant fauna and flora species.
The proposal also includes a narrow 20-metre-wide wildlife corridor which the group said is “totally inadequate” by most wildlife standards.
Another application that also concerns residents is one involving 432 Beckett Road. Submitted last August 2022, it seeks to create 15 residential lots with an average size of 457 sqm which will be accessible via a new internal road.
“I am against this development going ahead as this parcel of land forms part of a regionally
Important and irreplaceable cross-Beckett Rd wildlife corridor…Residents have seen platypuses in the local creek system which runs near the western boundary of this land and these unique animals are known to travel overland in search of new habitat and breeding partners, which will lead them to Cabbage Tree Creek to the east. Birds and bats are also known to favour crossing major roads above bushland,” an anonymous submission states.
“Any assurances given by developers are not worth the risk when they are happy to pay fines or contribute to ecological offset funds in pursuit of large profits which have these fines or relaxations built into the price of their developments,” says another submission.
“While I understand the need for more housing in the area, I don’t see why it has to come at the
expense of the natural environment,” writes another.
The proposal was granted the green light on 13 March 2023.
Published 22-March-2023