Calls to open up more land

Development industry meets with councillors over vacant lots

ONE of the leading voices in Toowoomba’s development industry has called on the council to drastically increase the amount of vacant land, following a “positive” meeting this week.

Hallmark Property’s Geoff Kath addressed the councillors at a special closed meeting on Tuesday over the amount of developable land in the TRC’s priority infrastructure area (PIA) mapping.

The meeting also featured members of the council’s planning and development group and officials from the State Government.

Mr Kath, who spoke for 45 minutes on the issue of land availability, said the Toowoomba region was headed for a dire situation in the coming 12 months.

“I think it was a positive meeting and I’m hoping we can move forward to get some outcomes,” he said.

“The area of concern at the present time is the current land stocks are being consumed faster than they’re being replaced. “It’s a capacity issue – the actual amount of available developable land is much less than what council needs.

“We’re saying that the PIA needs to be increased and it needs to be done urgently.”

Mr Kath said there was a big difference between the amount of land the council believed was available for development, and the amount there actually was.

“It’s never been audited for the past number of years — the amount that council understands is there is not reflective of what’s on the ground,” he said.

“(Also) the land that is available, some of it is in areas that are not desirable to the buyer of vacant lots.

“To give you an example, Toowoomba needs between 700 to 1000 lots approved every year to meet normal demand.

“In the last six months, there have been 70 approved, and that’s not just due to COVID (because) in the past 12 months there have been 120 approved.”

It comes at a time when

Toowoomba’s rental vacancy rate is hovering around one per cent, with some agencies reporting almost no available properties.

Mr Kath said if new land wasn’t made available, residents would find themselves struggling to find properties.

Planning and development chair Cr Megan O’Hara Sullivan said the meeting was productive for the councillors.

“I think that there was a conversation rather than people in different corners — there was a preparedness to listen on both sides,” she said.