Wild Koalas - not Whitewater Elephant

The Redlands Whitewater/Resilience Training Centre has been the focal point of a controversy surrounding the use of the Birkdale Lands, now renamed the Birkdale Community Precinct.

The centre was initially contracted as an Olympic venue prior to community consultation. After the 2032 Olympics, it will be owned and operated by Redlands City. Should it fail to be profitable, a tenuous concept for like Centres around the world. Any losses will fall upon the ratepayers of the Redlands.

There is no publicly available business case.

The Council is pushing forward, and is applying for Local Government Infrastructure designation (LGID).

Council is seeking submissions on the use of LGID status. This effectively overrides local planning instruments, and therefor the rights of residents to have a say later.

If you wish to make this submission please do so by using the button below. Your submission will be sent to [email protected] as required by Council.

Please note, we are asking for your address and contact details to meet this requirement.

To be properly made, submissions must:

be received during the consultation period
state the name and residential or business address of all submission-makers
be signed by each submission-maker unless the submission is made electronically
state one (1) postal or electronic address for service relating to the submission for all submission-makers; and
state the grounds of the submission and the facts and circumstances relied on to support the grounds

The Redlands Whitewater/Resilience Training Centre has been the focal point of a controversy surrounding the use of the Birkdale Lands, now renamed the Birkdale Community Precinct.

The centre was initially contracted as an Olympic venue prior to community consultation. After the 2032 Olympics, it will be owned and operated by Redlands City. Should it fail to be profitable, a tenuous concept for like Centres around the world. Any losses will fall upon the ratepayers of the Redlands.

There is no publicly available business case.

The Council is pushing forward, and is applying for Local Government Infrastructure designation (LGID).

Council is seeking submissions on the use of LGID status. This effectively overrides local planning instruments, and therefor the rights of residents to have a say later.

If you wish to make this submission please do so by using the button below. Your submission will be sent to [email protected] as required by Council.

Please note, we are asking for your address and contact details to meet this requirement.

To be properly made, submissions must:

be received during the consultation period
state the name and residential or business address of all submission-makers
be signed by each submission-maker unless the submission is made electronically
state one (1) postal or electronic address for service relating to the submission for all submission-makers; and
state the grounds of the submission and the facts and circumstances relied on to support the grounds

image of Wild Koalas - not Whitewater Elephant

Make a submission opposing the Redlands Whitewater Centre

98 emails sent

Where do you live?

Compose your email

Name

Email

Subject:

Birkdale Community Precinct LGID Submission

Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission.
I am deeply concerned about the plans proposed for the Birkdale Community Precinct, and the proposed LGID designation.  Further, I reject the entire concept of a Whitewater facility in Redland City.

I am a resident of Redland City. 
My opposition is based on the following:

•	I find aspects of the LGID designation unsettling.
o	The LGID designation appears to remove the site from normal council rules and policies and leaves one with concerns about future changes of direction at the whim of government.
o	This parcel of land contains precious koala habitat, and is home to many species of fauna and flora, and is a piece of the Redlands that should be preserved for that alone.
o	There are WW2-related heritage objects that, whilst apparently “protected under current plans”, could be vulnerable in the future without community recourse.
•	The Whitewater Centre will require significant energy and have a large carbon footprint both during construction and in the ongoing operation.
•	I found the LGID Environmental Assessment  Report quite impenetrable due to the scale and nature of the reports.  The executive summary was no help, simply laying out the process, but with no summaries or conclusions.

•	I am vehemently opposed to the “Resilience Training Centre” expenditure to provide facilities for a niche sport in the face of community homelessness and poverty in the current economic climate and major shortfalls in core infrastructure in the Redlands and beyond as population continues to skyrocket.
•	As a ratepayer, I am alarmed at the reckless actions of the Redland City Council in committing to the ongoing ownership of the Resilience Centre when there is no business case apparent.
•	An alternative venue exists which appears to meet the requirements of the  IOC
•	I am unhappy that the two initiatives are being dealt with as one.  Each deserves a business case.

I do not wish the LGID to be adopted.

How we use the data you enter on this form

Do Gooder (the advocacy platform powering this online action) processes personal information from you that you enter on this form so that we can provide the functions and related services to you and The Campaigner (the organisation responsible for this online action) for their legitimate purposes, including possibly exporting it to other systems, and to effectively respond to enquiries and communications related to those services.

Specifically when you enter:

Your location data (residential address or postcode) it is used to locate your elected representative, to pre-populate your email signature and to provide The Campaigner with a visualisation of the location of the support for this campaign.
All other data you may enter, including your email address, name, telephone number, commentary and so on is used by The Campaigner to advocate for the campaign’s goals and where required may be sent to the target of the campaign.

The data collected by Do Gooder is also used by us in aggregate form to improve the service and may be held on your behalf outside your country of residence by our third party service providers. These providers are bound by contract to only use personal information on our behalf, in accordance with agreed terms. While the privacy laws of the country in which personal information is stored or transferred may be different from those in your country, we will always have safeguards in place when storing or transferring personal information. We will never sell, rent, loan or in any other way pass your information on to other parties other than to provide this service to you and The Campaigner.

The personal information collected by Do Gooder is held subject to a Data Processing Agreement between Do Gooder and The Campaigner in compliance with the EU's GDPR and Australian law.

Learn more about our privacy policy here

How is my data used?