Landowners of Thornlands are fighting back against the recent removal of their land from the urban footprint under the State Government's South East Queensland Regional Plan, which also saw the end of the proposed Thornlands Integrated Enterprise Area (TIEA).
Woodlands Drive resident Barbara Taylor said the group of residents was given no indication of the pending changes, which have seen their properties go from being investigated for employment infrastructure to now having restricted growth, and they have been unable to access the planning documents that led the State Government to make the decision.
"As the CMC is investigating areas that were zoned for higher density out of the SEQ plan, we've written to them asking that they also investigate the change in Thornlands," Ms Taylor said.
"We also applied under the Right To Know for all the documents behind the removal of this land from the footprint, and only received 11 pages and were told the rest were 'not in the public interest'.
"How can it not be in the public interest to know? The land was to ease employment and housing affordability problems across the city and it now also raises some real questions about the transparency and decision-making behind this."
Sandra Peglar runs a chicken farm in Thornlands, which is now no longer in the urban footprint, and had initiated talks between a number of land owners and a local developer about the future of the site as an employment precinct.
"Values had been agreed upon for the land and proposals were under way for a master planned community with green space and koala corridors, which were to link in with a planned koala hospital for the area," she said.
"Without the prospect of the TIEA, the process is frozen, so we can't move forward with development but we also can't expand our businesses."
A number of development applications for land in the area were refused by Redland City Council in the months before the regional plan was released and appeals by the applicants were pending in the Planning and Environment Court.
In August, after the regional plan was released, the council passed a motion to lobby the State Government to overturn the applications involving Springacre, Woodlands, Taylor and Boundary roads in Thornlands, which Premier Anna Bligh has since done with at least one of the applications.
In a recent online forum on Integrity and Accountability in Queensland, the Premier said Thornlands had been taken out of the footprint because investigations into development had not led to any approvals.
"[Taking it out of the footprint] was to provide a very important buffer zone for koala habitat and [the land] hadn't actually got any approvals so we, as a result of that investigation, took it out [of] ever being in that capacity," she said.
She also said compensation had only been paid in the past to owners with an approved development on their land which was impacted on by the land category change.
But with upgrades to four lanes planned for Boundary Road and a number of other main roads through the area, the residents maintain the area is not ideal koala habitat.
"Most of the land is cleared for poultry farms or agricultural use, for a horse riding school, residential and church blocks, all with main roads and heavy truck traffic. It's not high-value koala land," Ms Taylor said.
The residents are also critical of Redland City Council's decision not to fight the changes in the regional plan, suggesting the council stands to financially gain from the decision.
"It's well known the council wants to build a multi-million dollar sporting facility in the area, and now the land is out of the urban footprint it will be much cheaper for them to acquire," Ms Taylor said.
Redland City councillor for Thornlands Toni Bowler said the council will be able to proceed with the sporting facility despite the changes because sporting facilities are not included in the scope of the urban footprint.
"Taking these blocks out of the footprint came as a total surprise to the council and we never lobbied for this, but we are supporting the State Government's decision," she said.
"For as many residents who are upset about this change, there are as many who have told me it's great news and they're thrilled to have their rural non-urban lifestyle preserved without the idea of an employment hub on their doorstep."
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