REDLAND City Council has rebuked claims it changed the Redlands Planning Scheme to allow a 24-lot subdivision at Ormiston to go ahead without community consultation.
A council spokesman was responding to claims from Wellington Street, Ormiston, resident Adelia Berridge, who said council held up assessing the development until changes in the planning scheme came into effect in July.
Ms Berridge said if council had assessed the Fiteni Homes development application when it was approved on June 26, there should have been community consultation.
She said council officers amended the planning scheme in June, allowing projects which did not alter public open space, such as the Ormiston sub-division, to be assessed without consulting the public.
“Sometime between May and July the block was changed from impact assessable to code assessable which means the residents have no rights, all vegetation can be removed and paves the way for the developer to do whatever he wants with the block,” Ms Berridge said.
“We’re worried that the tree will be cut down and the koalas removed from their home which causes great distress as they are territorial and will always try to return to their home ground.”
But a council planning spokesman said changes to the planning scheme were adopted in June and cleared up an ambiguity about open space being kept for community parkland.
“The amendments had no bearing on the proposed removal of trees on the Wellington Street site and are unlikely to have made any difference to the development application outcome,” he said.
“When the applicant started preparing the application it would have been considered impact assessable.
“However, they (Fiteni) did not make a properly made application until July, after which time the amendments had been adopted, resulting in the application being assessed as code assessable as per the Sustainable Planning Act.”
The development made headlines this month when residents complained it would knock down 20 gum trees, home to a mother koala and her baby.
