WAITING FOR MAIN COURSE
DEVELOPMENT is one of the linchpins of the Gold Coast economy and the health of this industry reflects that of the wider city.
The past five years have seen remarkable growth and resilience as the city recovered from the depths of the global financial crisis and blossomed, with the number of development applications more than doubling in that time.
With more than 23,000 projects ticked off, and a reputation as being a city ‘open for business’, Gold Coasters can’t be blamed for having an expectation that many of these projects, often incredible in their ambition and scope, would soon be rising out of the ground.
Chief among those left disappointed is Southport councillor Dawn Crichlow, whose suburb has been the location for a number of mooted projects which have yet to eventuate.
The initial excitement around the development application proves to be a mere entree before the main course of the project’s eventual breaking ground ends up delayed.
Years on from gaining approval, some of these prime sites still sit empty.
Land banking has been a long-running bugbear of city leaders – back in 1994 this newspaper revealed a push by then-mayor Gary Baildon to force foreign companies owning prime land on the Gold Coast to either develop or sell.
Yet the reality remains that developments are captives to market conditions and available finance.
Cr Crichlow is to be commended for her push to see some of these projects eventuate but her calls for a halt on the Gold Coast City Council approving further tower developments is the wrong way to go about it.
Such a move would deliver a body blow to confidence in the city and send entirely the wrong message at a time when the Gold Coast must put its best foot forward in the post Commonwealth Games reality.
With the greater Gold Coast region’s population set to hit 1 million people within 16 years, this is a time when the Gold Coast must be trying to attract the right kind of investment and projects which will deliver housing for this influx of people.