Redland fees and charges up 4.5%

A 4.5 per cent hike in fees and charges will come into effect on Sunday.

The new fees and charges schedule, along with the Thornlands Integrated Employment Area, dominated Wednesday's Redland City Council meeting.

The 62-page 2012-2013 fees and charges schedule is for all council services, except water and waste charges which will be set when the council draws up its budget on July 12.

Fees for right-to-information applications, hiring Redland Performing Arts Centre and council halls, along with library fees, children services, bus shelter advertising and bookings at Indigiscapes are included in the schedule.

Some fees and charges did not rise in price.

A full property rate search dropped in price from $145.36 last year to $138.10.

A conveyance property search also fell in price from $283.36 to $282.10 and a name and address search will also cost less, falling from $18.34 to $17.45.

Domestic building inspections will remain at $198 and after school care fees will not go up from last year's $6.50 an hour.

The price of photocopying will also stay at 20cents a sheet.

The confidential fees and charges schedule was finally tabled at the meeting after councillors voted to make it public.

The report said the fees and charges were set using an price index of 4.5 per cent, based on a "basket of goods" the council used.

Late changes to the schedule included removing the permit fees for beach camping and taking four-wheel drives on to beaches.

In August, the state government will take responsibility for those permits.

Fees and charges for caravan parks on North Stradbroke Island were also increased at the last minute after the council was asked by the island's indigenous community to continue to run the sites until October.

Camping during peak times at an unpowered site at Cylinder Beach will now cost $43 a day, up from $41 and for children to camp, it will cost $8.50 a day, up from $8.

The council also debated whether mayor Karen Williams should reiterate findings from an expert study into rezoning land at Thornlands when she meets with Infrastructure and Planning Minister Jeff Seeney next month.

Councillor Craig Ogilvie (Div2) said an expert Economic Employment Strategy report, tabled in 2010, found there would be a glut of land zoned for industrial purposes for 20 years and the Thornlands land was not needed in the Urban Footprint.

“During the election, commitments were made that moving the Urban Footprint wasn’t on the agenda. Now we are seeing signs it is,” Cr Ogilvie said.

His suggestion to get the mayor to tell Mr Seeney there was no point in opening up more land in Thornlands for employment failed.

Cr Williams said it was never her intention to get the Thornlands land reinstated in the Urban Footprint.

"The land was in the Urban Footprint and I'll be asking Mr Seeney for an explanation as to why it was taken out, when it was a unanimous decision by the council for that land to be an integrated employment area.

"This land was taken out of the urban footprint at the eleventh hour and I'll also be asking him what his intentions are for that land," Cr Williams said.

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