Eyesore end well overdue

ONE the worst eyesores on the Gold Coast is set to be demolished within weeks – and seriously, it’s about time.

The Oak at Surfers Paradise has been a home to vagrants and drug dealers for the past five years.

With multimillion-dollar views, easy access and ample room, it’s no wonder vagrants have taken up residence in disused Gold Coast buildings like the Oak.

These aren’t forgotten homes tucked away on the fringes but commercial properties, often with seven-figure price tags attached, in our city heart.

The old Oak resort, in particular, has to go, with the rubbish and graffiti-filled property resembling the set of a Hollywood underworld movie rather than an address in Australia’s premier holiday destination.

As well as being an eyesore, these properties also pose a safety risk – not just because of their filthy contents but because of the kinds of people that are being attracted to squat in them.

While the owners of the former Oak resort site are keen for the council to approve their new development, the clean-up and maintenance of the building should not be contingent on this approval.

At the end of the day the buck stops with the owners of this valuable land for failing to adequately secure it from vagrants.

The council can order a site to be cleaned up but this can take months to be enacted – and be dragged out longer through the courts.

Highrise developer Barry Morris is poised to place a 33-level tower on the land but this will only begin as soon as the GCCC approves the project.

Here’s hoping that’s sooner rather than later.