Consultation has concluded

  • Council sets out on Redlands Coast transport journey

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    How residents travel around the Redlands Coast was at the centre of two decisions made by Redland City Council in today’s General Meeting.

    The first decision saw Councillors endorse the Draft Redlands Coast Transport strategy for community engagement, while councillors also unanimously supported a Mayoral Minute for Council to make a submission to a State Government inquiry into the future of transport technology.

    Redland City Mayor Karen Williams said the endorsement of the Draft Redlands Coast Transport Strategy would give residents the opportunity to have their say on the future direction of transport planning on Redlands Coast.

    “Transport, both road and public transport infrastructure, is undoubtedly one of the most consistent topics of conversation in our community, which is why Council identified an updated transport strategy as one of our key priorities,” she said.

    “In 2015 we held a series of transport forums across the city and this draft strategy is informed by those forums, as well as engagement with key transport organisations and providers.

    “Our community has told us they want to be able to get around the city faster and safer and want to see the major roads in and out of the city upgraded along with key public transport infrastructure such as the Cleveland Rail line.”

    Cr Williams said an important next step of the strategy was hearing from residents, businesses, schools and transport partners on what transport issues were important to them.

    “As part of the consultation process we will ask residents what they think our priorities should be to help guide delivery of Council’s transport initiatives and advocacy to state and federal governments, transport providers and neighbouring local governments.

    “State and federal MPs will also be engaged directly, and information will be provided to raise community awareness about the transport network and which level of government was responsible for which transport corridor and service.

    “Our journey to a more effective and efficient transport network is just starting. This won’t be completed overnight, nor can Council take this journey alone.

    “The State Government is responsible for many of the major transport opportunities across Redlands Coast, including the majority of roads in and out of the Coast, public transport and rail.

    “This is why a key part of this strategy will be to advocate to other levels of government and encourage them to prioritise the projects, road upgrades and public transport services our community needs.”

    “The Redlands Coast Transport Strategy will be followed by a series of implementation plans, which is where the rubber hits the road through the identification of on the ground priorities and projects our residents will see in their neighborhoods and along their daily commute.”

    Cr Williams said Council would make the case for better transport technology to meet local challenges as part of their submission to the State Government Transport and Public Works Committee inquiry into Transport Technology.

    “The Redlands Coast has some unique transport challenges and our submission will encourage the State Government to remove some of the existing barriers to the technology that may meet these challenges,” she said.

    “An example of these technologies is Autonomous Vehicles, and we have been trying to encourage the State Government to trial these vehicles on our island communities.

    “We will also use our submission to highlight the transport challenges and increased transport costs for our island communities, as well as the challenges our island based residents face in accessing employment and social services.”


  • Connecting Redlands

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    Transport plans help the efficient movement of people, goods and services. Getting our transport right is essential for economic growth as well as protecting our environment and lifestyle.

    Over the next year Council will engage residents, the State Government, transport providers, interest groups and many others on how we can improve our city’s transport network to better meet the needs of our community.

    As we develop this plan we will find low-cost actions that we can deliver straight away as well as identify major projects that can be delivered once funding becomes available in the longer term. We also need to consider how technology might change the way we live.

    Visit our Connecting Redlands project site to submit your ideas.

  • Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull encourages Redlanders to attend transport forums

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    Redland City is a beautiful part of South-East Queensland.

    I know the thousands of families who have made their home in the Redlands appreciate its relaxed lifestyle and sense of community.

    It is important that as we think about the future, and the way people live, work and play, that we think carefully about transport.

    Andrew Laming has been a great advocate for Redlands and we will support transport infrastructure in cities on the basis of its merit. We need good mass transit; we need good roads; and we need good planning.

    This is especially important for communities like Redland City that have such diverse needs, from people living and working on the islands of Moreton Bay, to workers commuting to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast and those who live and work within the boundaries of the City.

    Liveable, vibrant cities are absolutely critical to our prosperity. This is a key priority for my Government and that is why I have appointed the Hon Jamie Briggs as Minister for Cities and the Built Environment. I encourage you to be involved as we develop a new agenda for our cities.

    The Redlands community is justifiably proud of its past as the site of some of the earliest European settlements in Australia, and its indigenous heritage stretching back thousands of years. The future for Redland City is just as bright, and I encourage everyone to engage with the Council on the City’s transport future.


    The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP

    Prime Minister of Australia
    20 October 2015


    Please click here to download the PDF version of this letter.


  • Getting to the core of the issue

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    Is the better solution to congestion on our roads improved infrastructure or new jobs?

    These are among the questions to be addressed by Redlanders as the city becomes the first in Queensland to engage in a community conversation about local traffic needs, solutions and how they should be funded.

    Councils are being encouraged by the State Government to talk with residents about their specific traffic concerns as it prepares to release its new State Infrastructure Plan and launches its Queensland Tourism and Transport Strategy Discussion Paper, which asks communities for ideas on how to
    deliver seamless and connected travel that contributes to a positive holiday experience.

    At the core of the Redlands’ conversation is identifying exactly what the problems are for residents and to define the community’s expectations, as well as investigating how advances in technology can influence solutions.

    Say, for example, the challenge is how to move 50,000 people a day between Brisbane and the Redlands, where about 60 per cent of the workforce works outside the city. Is the core
    problem that the road is insufficient or is it more related to public transport, work practices or the need to create local jobs?

    Trying to relieve traffic congestion by building another road may not address the root cause, which may be the need for more meaningful jobs in the Redlands.

    Latest thinking suggests technology and the progression of the digital economy will have a dramatic impact on the infrastructure needs of the future.

    Take the hypothetical case of a remote community which needs improved medical services. The better solution might be to invest in a tele-health link rather than upgrading a hospital.

    The issues faced by island residents present another example. Is the problem the lack of a bridge or is it that services available on the island are insufficient? These are two different conversations.

    All communities are being faced with the similar issues as the cost of infrastructure continues to rise along with their expectations, while the ability to fund that infrastructure diminishes. Infrastructure decisions increasingly need to be guided by finding cost-effective ways of delivering the services that are actually needed rather than looking first to a new-build solution.

    Providing infrastructure to modern communities requires a “whole of life” strategy in which the projects which are needed are not only clearly defined but funded, with a strategy as to how they can be delivered quickly and then properly maintained.

    But first it is importantly to determine how to get the best use out of the existing asset base before spending more money adding to it. How that can be achieved is at the heart of the “Redlands on the move” community conversation – it is about zeroing in on what actually matters and what is going to benefit the community to inform rational decision-making rather than hoping for a “magic
    pudding’’ solution.

  • Water travel an essential service

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    Whether you’re heading home or going on holiday, a journey by ferry is an essential for many in the Redlands.

    The logistical challenge of moving more than 1.5 million people, 40,000-plus vehicles and every conceivable good between the Redlands’ mainland and six inhabited islands each year requires close partnerships between private operators, the State Government and Council.
    By their very nature, the city’s island communities are isolated and providing transport services to the
    combined 8368 permanent residents presents challenges, the vagaries of the weather not the least of them.

    What can be done to boost or improve services for residents and visitors will be part of a community
    conversation.

    Lamb Island resident and Southern Moreton Bay Islands Chamber of Commerce President Col McInnes is a regular traveller on Bay Islands Transit’s ferries, contracted by TransLink on a trial basis to deliver 37 trips each weekday from Redland Bay to Macleay, Lamb, Karragarra and Russell islands.

    “We have four distinct communities out here in the Southern Moreton Bay Islands and we are unique in Australia because of it,” he said.

    “We have a fantastic ferry service, when you consider from between 5am to after 11pm at night you can
    catch a water taxi every 30 minutes. “Since the service was taken over by TransLink in 2013, we’ve also received free inter-island travel and this has been a game-changer for tourism here and our sense of community.”

    Ferry services to North Stradbroke Island operate quite differently as there is a larger number of
    tourists using the services and fewer permanent residents.

    While TransLink provides Stradbroke Flyer Gold Cats and StradbrokemFerries with subsidies for pensioner and concession fares, the rest of the business is driven by them. Stradbroke Flyer Gold Cats Manager Sharon Groom said now was the perfect time to restart the conversation on the
    region’s transport services.

    “As a ferry operator here for the long haul, it’s really important water transport is part of the conversation at the November forums,” Mrs Groom said. “It’s really important we continue to provide good services to the residents on North Stradbroke Island, particularly now as there’s so
    much uncertainty with sand mining ending and ownership changes at other transport providers.”

    Multi-million-dollar upgrades to ferry terminals at Cleveland’s Toondah Harbour and Redland Bay’s Weinam Creek are currently being planned as part of the city’s two Priority Development Area projects, should they receive the final Commonwealth, state and local government approvals to go ahead.

  • Pie in the sky... or your prescription?

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    Forget about the fracas between Uber and taxis, within 10 years you could be dropped off at work or the shops by a driverless car that then leaves the busy city centre to park itself.

    And if you have trouble getting to the chemist for your prescription, don’t worry - a drone could drop it off at your doorstep.

    These are some of the transport developments occurring right now around the world and that the Redlands needs to consider when planning for its transport and landuse future, according to leading transport academic Associate Professor Matt Burke, Deputy Director and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Griffith University’s Urban Research Program.

    Dr Burke is a speaker at the first of three transport forums to be held in November where Redland City
    Council, Department of Transport and Main Roads and the Redland City Bulletin want to hear from Redlanders about their transport needs.

    The need for better connected and scheduled bus and rail services, more local jobs, getting more
    people walking and cycling and a greater investment in public transport are some of the issues Dr Burke sees for the Redlands.

    “There are some major challenges for transport and land use in Redlands,” Dr Burke said.

    “Through no fault of present administrations, previous generations of planning have been weak. We
    have a spatial mismatch, with one of the biggest issues being the lack of jobs in the area. There are very few jobs, especially for white-collar office employees in Redlands.

    “That means a tsunami of people travel out of Redlands on road and rail each morning and a tidal
    wave come back in the evenings, all wanting to travel at the same time. And they are travelling in the
    morning at the same time as the school traffic – it’s a very inefficient system and a great structural problem across Brisbane as well as Redlands.

    “Redlands also has very bad connections to universities, so it is difficult for our tertiary students to get to those campuses. And the low-density nature of development in the Redlands, as well as the scale
    of funding for public transport, means there is a limited public transport service in the city. It’s also not the best designed network.

    “We don’t tend to run buses to trains well in any of our Australian cities. We don’t even connect bus to bus well. There are also issues with the cost of public transport.”

    Dr Burke said Zurich and its regional towns were good examples of places doing transport well.

    “Swiss mountain villages have 30 per cent of people catching a bus then a train to get to work every day. How do they do it? The answer is that they time and pulse the services to make the journey seamless, easy and irresistible. It is these ‘soft’ solutions that can make the difference.”

    Dr Burke said planners often thought they knew what the problems facing a city were but often didn’t.

    “Until the community engages in exercises like these forums and actually tells the planners what they
    need and what they want, planners won’t have the whole picture,” Dr Burke said.

    “We’ve had classic examples in Melbourne. Some people said they wanted a tram, but what they
    actually wanted was really good connections to the heavy rail network rather than a 90-minute trip to
    Melbourne via tram.

    “We need to have those discussions in the Redlands. Some people may rush and say, ‘we need a light rail like the Gold Coast’. Perhaps, but we need to find solutions that are right for Redlands, that are affordable and doable. Some will be short term, in the next one to two years; some will be to cater for the 50,000 additional people expected to come to the city over the next 25 years.”

    Dr Burke said it was important to think about how we wanted people in the Redlands to live and travel. “What we don’t want is for them all to bring their car into Cleveland or all try to get to the same shopping
    centre in Capalaba,” he said. “We need a greater proportion of travel to be done by more efficient and cost effective modes and we have to make that easy for people. Walking, public transport and cycling are clear areas where we need to improve. That’s not to say we should not invest in roads. That is important too.”

    Dr Burke said the city had particular challenges with an ageing population.

    “Access to health care, pharmacies and doctors will be increasingly important and that space is changing very quickly,” he said.

    “We have companies in the US which have announced that their business model is to deliver prescriptions by drone to people rather than have them pick them up from pharmacies.

    “The community transport sector is also often underfunded and poorly coordinated in Australia, with many separate organisations running buses but not coordinating their services or paying drivers to service areas effectively. There are overseas examples where community transport is done very well.”

    Dr Burke said driverless cars were already being trialled in Sweden, with Volvo putting 100 on the road.

    “More than 60 per cent of the cost for a taxi is related to the driver,” he said.

    “We are likely to see the slow bleed of this technology and see it assisting people with their driving over the next 10 years. We may rapidly move to this situation. It is not something in the way distant future.”

    Driverless cars may also change the requirement for car parks.

    “If a car can go and park itself somewhere else, should Redlands be demanding so much parking at
    shopping centres in the future or will we be building expensive, stranded assets? We could end up with giant boxes in the sky that are completely useless.”

    Dr Burke said the Redlands should be looking to be resilient and future focused with its transport planning.

    “They should be saying ‘we are not sure what will happen but we are going to take some smart steps to make sure we are not making our city dysfunctional in the future’,” he said.

  • Be part of the solution

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    Today Redlanders are invited to join a community conversation about the transport needs of our city now and into the future.

    This is timely as our Draft City Plan 2015 is with residents for their input and
    both the State Government, through its review of the State Infrastructure Plan and launch of the Queensland Tourism and Transport Strategy Discussion Paper, and the Federal Government have recently brought the need for transport infrastructure planning to the fore.

    As part of the State Government’s review, it has encouraged councils to engage with their communities and Redland City will be the first to do so through a month-long conversation which will inform the Redlands Local Government Infrastructure Plan to be developed next year. It is clear that transport congestion is a major issue but it is not the only issue. We want to hear what affects you the most and your views on how all tiers of government can alleviate them.

    It is important that this conversation is driven by the community to ensure all concerns are canvassed and opportunities and ideas addressed.

    At the end of it, Redlanders will have led the formation of a plan for problems which need fixing now, as well as safeguards for the future that the city can work towards through advocacy, lobbying, partnerships or funding.

    Council has long pushed for major infrastructure such as duplication of rail services to the Redlands and extension of the Eastern Busway but these are neither within the scope of a city of our size to fund nor our responsibility. We want to know how important projects such as these are to Redlanders. We also want to hear your views on whether we should be prepared as a city to look for ways to fund major infrastructure ourselves, whether that is in the form of a loan from the state or capitalising on business growth generated by having more attractive infrastructure. No issue is too small or too big. As part of this conversation, there will be a series of forums in November headed by independent experts who will lead discussions on a range of transport and planning themes. They promise to be informative and, above all, engaging. They will be held across the city to give as many people as possible a chance to be involved.

    In the meantime, Council is working on a cross-border connectivity project with Brisbane City Council and the

    State Government, as well as building the business case needed to attract the funding needed to provide for our needs.


  • Get involved and attend our transport forums

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    Redland City Council, The Redland City Bulletin and the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads have partnered to lead a community conversation on what the key transport issues are now and into the future.

    Redland City Council is hosting three public forums where expert speakers will lead community conversations about the transport needs of the Redlands and how they should be addressed.The forums (listed below) will be held at:

    • Redland Performing Arts Centre - November 1, 2016

    Connecting Cities: How well do we connect with our neighbours and who is responsible for providing transport infrastructure? Speakers include Dr Stefan Hajkowicz, CSIRO; Dr Matthew Burke, Griffith University; and Darren Crombie, Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning.

    • Victoria Point Library - November 7, 2016
    Future: What should our transport system look like in 20 years' time to meet our changing needs? Speakers include Dr Neil Sipe, University of Queensland; economist Marcus Brown; and Ben Wilson, CEO of Bicycle Queensland.

    • Capalaba Sports Club - November 14, 2016
    Getting into Gear:What are our most pressing transport priorities and how do we deliver them? Speakers include Warren Rowe, University of Queensland planner-in-residence and Assoc Prof John Steen, University of Queensland economist.

    The forums will feature experts such as:

    • CSIRO Principal Scientist Dr Stefan Hajkowicz;
    • Program Head of Planning at the University of Queensland
    • Dr Neil Sipe; Senior Research Fellow and Australian Research Council-Discovery Future Fellow Dr Matthew Burke of the Urban Research Program at Griffith University
    • Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning Executive Director Darren Crombie

    Free go cards for early bird

    The first 33 attendees at each transport forum will receive a go card with three days' free travel!

    Articles for further reading:

    · Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull encourages Redlanders to attend transport forums

    · Time to act on our transport needs

    · Getting to the core of the issue

    · Water travel - an essential service

    · Pie in the sky... or your prescription?

    · Be part of the solution

    You can also be a part of the conversation using Twitter #redlandsonthemove or through the forums (below) on this website where you can ask questions, comment on ideas, vote for your favourite comments or take part in surveys as trends emerge.

  • Time to act on our transport needs

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    Few issues have as significant an impact on our day-to-day life, including how we structure our day, as those associated with transport. The time we leave for work, the route we take, the stresses we endure and ultimately the time we have to spend with family and friends are all impacted in one way or another by transport issues.

    With Redland City Council having recently released its draft City Plan and the State Government to review its State Infrastructure Plan, the time is right for an in-depth discussion about finding solutions to the Redlands’ current and future transport issues.

    Commitment and cooperation from all levels of government will be critical to solving the Redlands’ transport issues, but first a community discussion informed by the users – the mums and dads, workers and commuters – is necessary to ensure the decision makes have a clear view of what the real issues are.

    As your community newspaper the Redland City Bulletin is excited to be at the forefront of a community conversation in partnership with Redland City Council and the Department of Transport and Main

    Roads. This conversation will help residents share their concerns, voice their ideas and, importantly, be informed by some of the country’s leading thinkers on the transport and infrastructure issues facing cities around the world.

    The conversation we start today, which will continue with a series of forums in November, should generate plenty of feedback and ideas which will back the Redlands’ case for improved transport infrastructure and services. The Redland City Bulletin encourages residents to be involved in a positive way by sharing their experiences and opinions.

    Whether you are concerned about a lack of local jobs, congested roads, the quality of public transport service or access to shops and services, this is an opportunity to get your message across to ensure the solutions are aimed at the problems rather than simply a band-aid over the symptoms.

    Originally published in The Redland City Bulletin 21/10/15.