DUSTING OFF CLEAN AND GREEN SPACES
PLANS are being drawn up for an abandoned garden to provide jobs, accommodation and an answer to the city’s food wastage.
Stewart Brooker and Wayne Purcell are the masterminds behind an idea to turn the forgotten space at Helensvale into a pocket neighbourhood.
Both men volunteer at community gardens on the Gold Coast and Mr Brooker said the pair had been working with two design students from Griffith University to create plans for what the private land in Helensvale Rd could become.
“Initially I contacted the owner about putting in another community garden but after we met and discussed what else the land could be, we threw some ideas together,” he said.
The private property used to be an orchard, holding 160 fruit trees, which were all uprooted and moved to Byron Bay 18 months ago.
Plans for the 4000sq m space include a community garden surrounded by residential pods, a cafe and shared spaces for the public to enjoy, all run through solar power.
The initiative ties in with the Climate Council and economic advisory firm AlphaBeta’s Clean Jobs Plan released in July, outlining how 76,000 new jobs could be created in Australia, with 20,000 of them coming from Queensland areas including the Gold Coast.