Impact of the Caloundra Transport Corridor upgrades to community and environment

Eligibility - Queensland residents
Principal Petitioner:
Emma Rees
8 Bushlark Street
AROONA QLD 4551
Total Signatures - 1,112
Sponsoring Member: The Clerk of the Parliament
Posting Date: 5/8/2021
Closing Date: 4/3/2022
Tabled Date: 15/3/2022
Responded By: Hon Mark Bailey MP on 14/4/2022
TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland

Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House that the Sunshine Coast Regional Council have designed a transport corridor for construction in 2023. The scale of this road will have a detrimental impact to both environment and community, to people and place. Plans place the road into the powerline easement within Ben Bennett Bushland Park, home to native flora and fauna that has been protected since 1969. It also replaces important CBD parkland between Bowman Road and Omrah Avenue with road infrastructure. A community hub of 9 local businesses will be eradicated, aged care providers, community and sports facilities in the vicinity will be heavily impacted. This road will sever the community connections and harm our environment. Representatives of local, state and federal government entities argue that the community wants this road, but the community are unaware of the scale of the road and do not realise the community assets and character that will be lost in the development of this infrastructure.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to revise state government TMR budget allocation for this project that could be better spent on transport solutions that look to promote public and active transport instead of unsustainable roads and car usage. We call on the Sunshine Coast Regional Council, in consultation with the community, to reconsider existing plans and scale back the design to two lanes and reduce the impact to community and environment but still offer alternative routes to access the town centre which would ease congestion.