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About the Arundel Hills Community Association Inc. |
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| The Arundel Hills Community Association was formed to coordinate the community’s response to the threat posed to Arundel’s green space by the purchase of the former site of the Arundel Hills Country Club by Melbourne-based property developers.
Learn more about the Arundel Hills Community Association Inc.
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What’s Happening Now and Next |
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| Council Meeting – 19th November 2024 – The TLPI has been repealed!
A Special Council Meeting was held by City of Gold Coast Council on 19th November 2024 to consider the Council’s response to advice from the Queensland Deputy Premier’s office, that the TLPI relating to the Arundel Hills site could be repealed if the Council so decided. So many members and supporters of the Arundel Hills Community Association attended that they could not all fit in the council chambers’ public gallery, with some following proceedings on a livestream in the lobby of the building. The meeting was brief. The recommendation before the council was to repeal the TLPI. The motion was introduced by chair of the Planning Committee, councillor Mark Hammel, and was summed-up by our own Division 7 councillor Joe Wilkinson. No other councillors chose to speak on the matter. The vote was unanimous in favour of the recommendation, so the TLPI is dead. It will no longer be a factor in what happens in Arundel. In their remarks, both councillors paid tribute to the determined and professional way in which the Arundel Hills Community Association had fought to ensure that the wishes of the community were heard and acted upon. Our local State MP, Sam O’Connor and the Queensland Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie were present to witness the proceedings. Both were instrumental in getting to the position where the future fate of the Arundel Hills site will be decided by the City of Gold Coast Council rather than by the Queensland Government. This fulfilled a pre-election promise that they had made to that effect. The only surprise was that they had been able to make this happen so quickly after the election. There was great media interest in the event – most likely due to the presence of the Deputy Premier – with coverage by all the local broadcast media and by the Gold Coast Bulletin. Association Chairman, Jason Young, featured in the post-meeting press conference, alongside all the politicians, including the Deputy Premier. Links will be added below, as they become available, to allow you to see how the events have been reported. See the live stream of the Special Council Meeting |
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| Sam O’Connor and Jarrod Bleijie on ABC Gold Coast Breakfast – 18th November 2024
Bonney MP, Sam O’Connor, and Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie spoke briefly about the expected removal of the TLPI on ABC Gold Coast radio on the morning of Monday 18th November. You can use the link below to hear what they had to say. |
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| The TLPI has been slated for repeal by the new LNP Queensland Goverment
In news reports published on 16th November 2024, it has emerged that the Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI), created by the previous Labor Queensland state government, relating to the Arundel Hills site is set to be repealed. The path to this has been cleared by the newly-elected LNP administration which has given permission to City of Gold Coast Council to make the final decision on whether or not to remove the TLPI. This is a huge victory for the Arundel Hills community. The TLPI was the government-created scheme that set planning parameters that would have allowed the developers to wedge a whole new, densely populated, suburb right into the heart of Arundel Hills, obliterating the existing green space. Although the developer’s plan was deemed “not properly made” by the council (see below), with the TLPI still in place there was a chance that that plan for over 800 dwellings could have been fixed-up and resubmitted. That chance is now gone. Although there has been no official word yet, it seems likely that the developer will now revert to continuing with the court case, currently adjourned, in the Queensland State Planning and Environment court. That case is an appeal against the council’s unanimous rejection of the original development application for the site. The next hearing in that case is scheduled for March 2025. See this news reported in the Courier Mail |
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| Developer’s latest Development Application deemed to have been Not Properly Made
In a letter issued on 30th October 2024, David Janson, the A/ Supervising Planner at City of Gold Coast Council, advised the developers, Arundel Estates Development Pty, that the Development Application (DA) that was lodged on 11th October 2024 was “not properly made”. This means that the council will not even start to assess the DA. The developer has until 27th November (or a later date negotiated with the Council) to correct the multiple deficiencies in the application. If they fail to do that, the Council will take it that the DA has not been made. You can see the full list of the ways in which the Council deemed the DA to be deficient in the letter, linked below. At the very least, the developers will have a huge job on their hands to get the DA into a condition in which the Council will even consider it. Meanwhile, they will be only too aware that the new Queensland government is likely to reconsider the TLPI and without that TLPI, there is no chance that this particular DA would be approved. |
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| Sam O’Connor talking about Arundel Hills on ABC Gold Coast Radio – 4th November 2024
Our local Queensland MP and newly appointed Minister for Housing and Public Works and Minister for Youth, Sam O’Connor, appeared on ABC Gold Coast local radio and, amongst other things was asked about the proposed development on the Arundel Hills site. Listen to what he had to say by clicking the link below. |
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| Sam O’Connor appointed as Housing Minister
The Arundel Hills Community Association is delighted to see the appointment of our local state MP, Sam O’Connor, to the positions of Minister for Housing and Public Works and Minister for Youth by the new Queensland Premier, David Crisafulli. It will make a huge difference to have someone who really understands the concerns of the community taking an active role in making decisions about what will happen with the Arundel Hills site. Prior to the election, Sam made a commitment that, if in government, the LNP would do everything in its power to reverse the disastrous TLPI created by Meaghan Scanlon. We realise that this is a really busy time for an incoming minister, so it will probably be a while before Sam has a chance to let us know what he thinks will happen next. But as soon as we know anything we will share that information with the community via our website and our Facebook group. |
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| Court Hearing 22nd October 2024 A hearing took place at the Queensland Planning and Environment court on 22nd October 2024, in the matter of the developer’s appeal against the council’s decision, on 25th January 2024, to reject the original development application. Those co-respondents who have signed a Form 10 were represented in court by Jason Young and Glenn Pearson who generously gave their time to be there on behalf of all of us. The upshot was that the matter has been adjourned until March 2025. Use the link below to hear Jason’s report about this. |
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| New Development Application Submitted – 11th October 2024 The developers, Arundel Estates Development Pty Ltd, have submitted a new development application (DA) to City of Gold Coast Council under the reference COM/2024/309. This DA proposes a development that appears to conform with the shocking Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI) that Labor’s Housing Minister, Meaghan Scanlon MP, published a few weeks ago in respect of the site. We are still assessing what this means in terms of our next steps. You can see the initial response to this news from Association Chairman, Jason Young, by clicking on the link below. Also below are links to the documents that have been submitted for this application. Jason’s Response |
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| Community Meeting The Arundel Hills Community Association held a Town Hall meeting at Arundel State School on Sunday 22nd September. Our local councillor Joe Wilkinson, local state MP Sam O’Connor and the chair of City of Gold Coast Council’s Planning Committee Mark Hammel were our featured guests. They provided answers to the community’s questions to help us understand the implications of the latest steps in the planning process for the Arundel Hills site. In addition to the estimated 300 to 400 local residents and interested parties, just as with the previous Town Hall meeting, there was a koala in a tree by the school entrance. It’s as if they know what is going on and want to support us. |
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| Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI) Meaghan Scanlon MP, Queensland’s Minister for Housing, Local Government and Planning and Minister for Public Works issued a draft Temporary Local Planning Instrument covering the site of the former Arundel Hills Country Club. Public feedback was invited with the 10-day period for submissions closing on 8th May 2024.The TLPI was formally made public on 4th September 2024. |
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| At the time of writing, it is not clear exactly how the existence of the TLPI will affect the way forward for the site.
In an answer to a parliamentary question, Ms Scanlon disclosed that there were 1,865 comments received by the minister’s office during the consultation period. Of those, 1,800 (96.5%) were objections, with only 56 in support. Ms Scanlon pointed out that 939 of the objections were based on the Association’s pro-forma, as though that lessened their value. This is despite the fact that Ms Scanlon’s office, filled with planning professionals, took many weeks to formulate the TLPI, yet the community of interested locals, mostly without any planning experience was given less than two weeks to respond. Expecting individualised responses from each respondent is totally unrealistic. In any event, Ms Scanlon saw fit to ignore the overwhelming antipathy in the community towards her proposed TLPI and published it with no substantive changes from the draft. Ms Scanlon has previously pointed out that there is no obligation to consult about a proposed TLPI. The purpose of having a consultation period, when the outcome of that consultation is then roundly ignored, remains a mystery. View the TLPI published on 4th September 2024 |
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| Pledge Campaign The Association needs to plan the way forward in our community’s fight to preserve and protect the incumbent wildlife population that relies on the former golf course green space for their habitat. Part of that is knowing what financial resources we can count on from the community. We have launched a Pledge Campaign and encourage members and other supporters to make a pledge in support of our cause. |
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| Membership Membership is vital to the Association. When talking to official bodies and the media, our authority comes entirely from the numbers that we represent. If you are not already a member, please consider becoming one. If you are already a member, please make sure that you have paid your membership subscription for the 2024/25 membership year. |
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| Appeal Court Case The developers are appealing against the City of Gold Coast Council’s rejection of their Development Application that was determined on the 25th January 2024. Their appeal court case has been lodged with the Planning and Environment Court in Brisbane. This case is currently in adjournment until 3rd March 2025. Find out more about the appeal court case and how we set new records for citizen participation. |
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| Facebook Joining our Facebook group is a great way to keep up with news and announcements from the Association. |
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What’s happened to get us this far |
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| Getting to this stage in the battle to protect Arundel Hills’ green space has required the concerted efforts of committee members, other volunteers – such as Neighbourhood Champions – and the whole community working together. If you want to know about what happened at each stage and find documents and information relating to past activities, please click the link below.
Find out more about the Arundel Hills Community Association Inc. story. |
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