Brisbane City Council Elections
The Brisbane City Council (BCC) Election for The Gap Ward will take place on Saturday 15th March 2008 to elect our Local Government Representative for the next four years.
At this time, the candidates standing for election are as follows:
- Liberal Party – M/s. Geraldine Knapp (Incumbent)
- Labor Party – Mr. John Laing
- Green Party – Dr. Robert Hogg
All three candidates attended the Gap Community Association (GCA) Meeting held on the 30th January 2008 and were invited to advise the meeting of their respective positions on the proposed upgrade of Gap Creek and Dillon Roads between Kenmore and The Gap.
M/s. Knapp advised the meeting that she is in favour of the planned upgrade whilst Mr. Laing and Dr. Hogg advised of their opposition to the upgrade.
Residents of The Gap may be aware that the GCA conducted a survey of local residents in December 2006 on the proposed upgrade, the results being 955 (70.1%) responses against the upgrade and 407 (29.9%) in favour of an upgrade.
The decision to conduct our survey was approved and paid for by the Brisbane City Council and the survey results were counted in the BCC Gap Ward Office by BCC and GCA representatives – the GCA believes this to be the only credible and ‘transparent’ survey carried out on this subject to date.
Based on the results of our survey, the GCA has, and will continue to oppose the upgrade due to the majority concern of residents on this important issue.
The concerns of residents are many, but may be summarised as follows:
- The destruction of fauna and flora in the Heritage Listed Brisbane Forest Park due to the sealing and realigning of the road through the Park – the BCC acknowledge that over 700 trees will be destroyed as part of the upgrade.
Indeed, the Australia Koala Foundation (AKF) has publicly agreed with the concerns of Gap residents and the AKF will be mounting their own campaign to oppose the Gap Creek Road upgrade on environmental grounds. - The negative impact on the quality of life in our green, ‘leafy’ suburb due to the increase in traffic through The Gap, particularly Payne, Illowra, Settlement and Waterworks Roads on which a number of schools are located.
- CO2 pollution from extra exhaust emissions.
- The fear that once the BCC seals and upgrades the road, further upgrades to the level of ‘ring road’ or ‘Western Brisbane Bypass’ could follow. The comment in BCC Newsletter No. 2 comparing the proposed upgrade to the ‘Western Freeway’, five kilometres to the east, further supports our concerns.
The GCA also notes that the BCC is unable to provide residents with a guarantee that the road/s will not be further upgraded as any such decision would in all likelihood be the prerogative of the State or Federal Governments and not the BCC. Indeed, the State Government-funded Western Brisbane Transport Network Investigation (WBTNI) is currently investigating the need, or otherwise, for a Western Brisbane Bypass and if established, the route that it should take.
If you, like The Gap Community Association, are concerned about our quality of life as a result of these planned upgrades, then we urge you to consider the respective positions of the three candidates on this important issue when you cast your vote on Saturday, 15th March 2008.