Council’s Inland Rail push continues
Lockyer Valley Regional Council remains committed to ensuring the region’s push against Inland Rail’s current plan is not only heard, but actioned.
Council’s fight to secure the best possible outcomes for the community date back to July 2018, when Council published a Position Paper setting out serious reservations about the project, which have been raised many times since.
Lockyer Valley Regional Council Mayor, Cr Tanya Milligan said the Position Paper outlined the community’s broad concerns and identified the need for key principles to limit the long-term impacts on our communities.
“What we wanted to, and still want to ensure is that as far as possible our region experiences no loss of connectivity; no flood impacts; limited impact to noise; minimises any loss of good quality agricultural land and is forward-thinking to support future passenger transport.
“Clearly, when considering alternative alignments these principles can compete and a sensible balance will be required: the key is community input – not just choosing the cheapest option.
“As a Council, I can assure our community we fully intend to stand by these principles and will fight to ensure our region’s valid concerns are not brushed aside for the sake of profit or convenience,” she said.
Mayor Milligan moved to remind the community the process of building Inland Rail would involve major construction activity for several years.
“This includes demolishing and replacing the Eastern Drive, Gatton overpass with a structure more than double its current size, plus lay-down areas in town for machinery and supplies.
“The impacts to home and businesses along the corridor and the flow-on effect on sale prices could all be avoided if the route was built outside of towns.
“We’re calling for these considerations, and Council’s suggested route outside the town centre, to be seriously explored as while it may increase the project cost initially, the difference will easily be recouped over the lifespan of the multi-billion-dollar freight network.
“Vitally, it will protect the amenity of our towns for the next hundred years, and for us, that’s worth every cent,” Mayor Milligan concluded.
