REDLAND City Council will use the Local Government Association of Queensland’s annual conference to call on Queensland councils to lobby government on park and ride facilities and postal ballots for local government elections.
The council will also put forward motions on national landcare projects and community residences.
The motions were supported by councillors at last week’s council meeting and will be tabled at the LGAQ conference in Brisbane in October.
Deputy Mayor Lance Hewlett said the council had historically used the conference to lobby other levels of government on the community’s behalf.
“These motions are again aimed at responding to our community’s needs,” Cr Hewlett said.
A motion put forward by Cr Wendy Boglary calls for a strategy for planning and upgrading park and rides.
“Park and ride facilities across the Redlands and south-east Queensland are in high demand and are generally over capacity during the working week,” Cr Boglary said.
“Commuters’ cars then spill over into surrounding neighbourhoods, which results in high demand for on-street parking.
“With park and ride facilities managed by multiple stakeholders, including councils, Translink and Queensland Rail depending on a facility’s location, a clear strategy would provide greater clarity in the planning and upgrading of this important infrastructure.”
Cr Boglary said a policy that outlined the intention of managing the assets into the future was required.
Cr Murray Elliott proposed a motion for an amendment to laws that would allow local governments to conduct elections by full postal ballot.
“Postal ballots will provide cost savings, reduce impacts to the environment and enhance voter convenience,” Cr Elliott said.
“At present this option is available for some regional areas but with our islands and isolated populations in parts of the city, I think it makes sense for this to be an option for the Redlands.”
Mayor Karen Williams will call on the LGAQ to lobby the federal government for increased funding for national landcare programs.
“National landcare programs such as Land for Wildlife provide invaluable support for community-based landcare projects that deliver both ecological and educational benefits to communities,” Cr Williams said.
“Increased funding for these projects would provide for increased community involvement in local landcare and vegetation management.
“Additionally, it would provide for increased education about the role the community can play in caring for the environment and open opportunities to partner with other levels of government in delivering environmental programs.”
The fourth motion called on the LGAQ to urge the state government to include additional planning requirements for community residences to be located close to public transport and possible employment areas.
The motion also calls for their impact on existing residential amenity to be addressed and for community residences not be established without consultation with local government.
“Council is of the view that community residences should not be established without consultation with the relevant local government to ensure conformity with local government planning policies,” Cr Williams said.
“Unfortunately, we have seen in the Redlands a community residence that housed past offenders who were reintegrating into the community that led to considerable community anxiety and concerns from police.”
Councillors Williams and Hewlett will be the official delegates at the conference in Brisbane. Other councillors can attend as observers.
