Postkiwi

I spent most of Friday with a group of colleagues from the Salvation Army, Uniting, Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches, looking at the recently released South East Queensland Regional Plan, 2005-2026.

The regional plan, developed for the Queensland State Government, protects 80 per cent of all land in the SE corner from urban development. The strategy includes allocating appropriate land for housing the population growth, providing cost-effective infrastructure and services, developing compact urban development (rather than sprawl), protecting the natural environment, and supporting a viable and diverse economy.

The population for the region in 2001 was 2.46 million people. It’s expected to reach between 2.75 and 2.79 million this year. By 2016 we’re expected to hit between 3.17 and 3.37 million. By 2026 the figure is between 3.46 and 3.97 million. That’s a lot of people to be moving into the area. We’ll need an estimated 575,000 new buildings in the next 20 years.

We heard about the growing proportion of households with one or two members. We looked at the development of the Mt Lindsay/North Beaudesert Study Area. We examined the growth of new city-size suburbs such as Springfield, Ripley, Sippy Downs and Coomera. And we scratched our heads when we didn’t hear a lot about planned social infrastucture. It’s all there in the strategy but.

It was good to be working in collaboration with other churches. It was good to be talking with the government. What became clear though is that the Uniting Church has some homework to do, building a strategic partnership between Presbyteries, Synod and Uniting Care as we explore our response to growth and change in Queensland. As we plan the planting of new churches, the development of schools, hospitals and other social services, we have the opportunity to work with synergy.

The report, and the recent amendment, are online at the Queensland Office of Urban Management.