TODAY’S latest Federal environmental decision should draw a line under one of the most prolonged and divisive debates on Redlands Coast.
The Birkdale Community Precinct — including the planned Redland Whitewater Centre — has again been found not to significantly affect nationally protected environmental values, provided the project proceeds under its established environmental safeguards.
That is not a casual tick of approval.
It follows years of planning, assessment, public debate and, most recently, a formal reconsideration process.
The original finding has now been tested and reconfirmed.
Champion Redland Coast CEO Cindy Corrie captured the mood of many residents and local businesses when she said: “Now let’s get on with it — put a shovel in the ground already.”
She is right.
The Redlands has a rare opportunity to secure an Olympic and Paralympic venue with benefits that should outlast Brisbane 2032 by decades.
The whitewater centre has the potential to become a destination for athletes, schools, families, visitors and adventure tourism, while helping put the Redlands on a far bigger stage.
But this precinct has never been only about whitewater.
Plans include public open space, recreation facilities, a swimming lagoon, improved access and infrastructure, and nearly 39 hectares — about 62 per cent of the 62-hectare site — retained for conservation, protection and ecological enhancement.
The environmental commitments are substantial.
About 10,000 native trees and tube stock, habitat corridors, nest boxes, koala monitoring, weed and pest management, water-quality treatment and fully lined whitewater channels designed to prevent groundwater interaction.
Environmental concerns deserve to be heard, tested and treated seriously.
That is exactly why proper approval processes exist.
But once an assessment has been completed, challenged, reconsidered and reconfirmed, endless delay from the usual Redlands 20 or 30 becomes its own form of failure.
Delay costs money. It risks jobs, local business opportunities and confidence. It also leaves the community without the facilities it has been promised and creates doubt about whether the Redlands can deliver major projects at all.
Council must now turn certainty into action.
The planned enabling works — roads, carparks, utilities, bulk earthworks and safe staged access — are not glamorous, but they are the essential foundations of a precinct of this scale.
The proposed lagoon, which Council says could begin construction as soon as next year, offers an opportunity to give residents an early and visible community benefit.
There will still be scrutiny. And there should be.
Council must honour every environmental commitment, keep the community informed and make sure local businesses and workers have genuine opportunities to share in the project’s delivery.
But the debate cannot remain stuck at the starting line forever.
The Federal decision provides the certainty Council – and the community – needed.
The Redlands deserves progress.
It is time to get the approvals, procurement and preparatory work moving — and put that first shovel in the ground.
