Councillor divide on airport trams

Seven for and seven against or undecided

The newly-elected Gold Coast City Council is divided on trams going to the airport, with at least half the councillors either opposed, wanting route changes or yet to make up their minds.

New transport committee chair Darren Taylor has been quick to back Mayor Tom Tate who in his first address to councillors put Stage 4 of the trams as a priority in the next council term.

But the Bulletin can reveal many new elected representatives, given their responses in the lead-up to the March 16 election, want to see a business case before giving the green light.

This means the councillor vote at best appears to have seven firmly in favour - the Mayor would have to use his vote for a majority. The remaining seven councillors are either opposed or won’t commit till they get more detail from the business case.

Mr Tate in his address after the councillors were sworn last Friday said the tram extension, a Greenheart project rivalling New York’s Central Park, Home of the Arts expansion and a mega waste recycling centre were the City’s main business for the next four years.

“Light rail Stage Four to improve transport efficiency and connectivity across the city - we can look forward to the east-west connections as well. Public transport is essential, because it serves people who cannot afford it the most,” he said.

“It serves people who don’t want to drive and have mobility issues. They’re the sorts of things we need to build.

“We have a big agenda in front of us. I invited us all to roll up our sleeves and have a crack, for Australia’s greatest lifestyle city.”

The Mayor added “the community has placed a great faith in us, and I have every confidence we will rise to the occasion”.

Cr Taylor in his first interview as the new transport committee chair said the tram connection was critical for the City’s tourism industry and reducing traffic congestion.

“It’s a really important project for the city as we continue to grow, and we understand there’s people coming to our city. It’s important we provide different levels of transport,” he said.

“Connectability to the city through our hospitals and universities is paramount. Not only the light rail but our east-west connectability. As a growing city we need to be thinking for the future.”

Cr Taylor said the Gold Coast Airport had to be become part of that public transport link.

“It’s important - we have four million people coming to the Gold Coast, so we need to ensure they get through to the suburbs, but through to the city, to Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach where my division is, and we are taking cars off the road,” he said.

But responses from newly elected councillors in southern divisions show while there is not a red light to the trams heading south, they ticked off on the Community Alliance’s position of a re-evaluation of public transport strategies.

The Alliance in a preamble to a survey to all candidates argued for a complete rethink of the

Transport committee chair

Gold Coast Transport Strategy 2031 where a top priority is “extending G-Link light rail link throughout the city”.

The Alliance argued the great need was for new, high-frequency, public transport at Robina-Varsity Lakes and the booming growth corridor at the north.

“There are 362,160 persons living in the northern Gold Coast, north from Main Beach, 216,227 from Main Beach to Burleigh including western suburbs, and only 66,804 from Tallebudgera Creek to Coolangatta,” the Alliance said.

“Yet we are proposing to spend at least $3 billion on (light rail stage 4) to replace buses with light rail down the Gold Coast Highway. The unjustified focus on (stage 4) means most residents in the west and northwest will continue to miss out on frequent and reliable public transport services.”

Division 13 Councillor Josh Martin said he supported improved public transport and connection to the airport but not the current proposed route through Palm Beach.

He said he would seek detailed alternative route options to be made publicly available “making sure we get the best outcome possible for our area as well as our city as a whole”.