PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL

THE Gold Coast has a long and complicated relationship with the potential redevelopment of its last remaining major greenfield location.

The Norwell Valley, in the city’s far north, is the last remaining bastion of one of the region’s oldest industries – cane farming.

A century ago cane was an economic powerhouse like tourism or development today and was critical to the growth of the region in the decades before it actually became a city.

But today cane farming is in long decline.

For 15 years the Bulletin has reported on the many attempts to determine the future of the region.

From motorsports precincts to eco resorts, there has been no shortage of ideas.

Today’s Bulletin reveals the latest push by 71 owners to sell more than 200 lots of land for redevelopment into a small city with room for 60,000 dwellings.

It is a bold proposal and one which is sure to divide the community.

But regardless of where you stand on this particular proposal, one thing is clear – a masterplan is needed for the Norwell Valley.

The past 15 years have been wasted by successive governments who have failed to give the landowners the certainty they need to plan their future.

Only the most hard-headed would argue otherwise that the cane industry in the region is sustainable in the long run.

It is a historic part of the Coast’s journey but with little future in the area, a real plan must be created and serious investigation into what could, and, indeed should, be done.

The same predictable opponents to development will insist any plans to develop the area would be akin to destruction on an epic scale but this is not the equivalent of Rome sacking Carthage at the behest of Cato the elder. This is about planning sustainably for the future.