Save Our Brisbane Suburbs has been formed as part of the growing network of Save Our Suburbs communities, to help compile a history of the development processes in use in Brisbane and other parts of Queensland.
It is clear that the development industry has been provided with too many opportunities to pursue its necessary role without the “checks and balances” needed to ensure that local and state government planning policies and regulations are legally achieved, while ensuring residents and local communities have an effective, if not controlling, say in the future of “their” suburbs or precincts.
But that's not all. The process of selling the site next door or nearby for redevelopment is unsettling and encourages concern about the future of the suburb. Is it to change, and if so, how? Will it be for short-term rental? Will the demographics and character change? Will the elements that describe its current character, such as residents, trees and landscaping, be changed by redevelopment? Will property values rise or fall depending on neighbours' developments? Will the building process bring months of noise, dirt, trucks, loud music, swearing, increased road danger and worse?
Will demolition be controlled, or will adjacent sites be invaded by dirt and dust, runoff rainwater and, as has happened recently, be threatened by asbestos products being demolished? Will the finished product occupy too much of the adjoining site, eliminating space for trees or effective privacy? Will the new neighbours “borrow your amenity” by overlooking your property? What will that do to your property's amenity and value?
Is this a threat to your street, precinct or neighbourhood? Do you have any control at all over this process?
Worthwhile character houses are being trucked away almost everywhere, yet some owners are not allowed to do so. Others that residents regard as character are approved for demolition. Why? What kind of “character precinct” results when, one by one, residents' concerns are ignored by local authorities and cannot be tested because objection rights have been removed? Other appeals are so expensive that residents are coerced into not appealing, again a form of corruption when the checks and balances cannot be applied. Whether flood prone or character housing or just your local precinct, your stories must be told.
The SOBS convener is Michael Yeates, a well known advocate for a more socially just urban lifestyle.