Two expert reviews have provided an independent analysis of the Walker Corporation’s proposal to revitalise Toondah Harbour.
Redland City Mayor Karen Williams said the detail of the reviews was confidential at this stage due to the commercial nature of the Walker proposal, which was yet to receive final approval.
“These reviews were commissioned by Council as part of our due diligence process to ensure the Priority Development Area (PDA) proposal was sound on engineering and financial grounds,” she said.
“It means the community can be confident the proposal to upgrade Toondah Harbour has been analysed by independent experts, as well as Council and State Government specialists, to ensure it measures up.
“Contingent on approval by the new State Government, the Walker Corporation can then advance to the next stage – preparing a Development Management Agreement and seeking associated approvals.
“This will include assessment against legislation including the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which will include three separate opportunities for public consultation.
“The notification processes included in these approvals will see further details of the proposal made available to the community for feedback. These opportunities will be communicated at the appropriate time and the community will be encouraged to be part of these important processes.”
Council’s infrastructure spokesperson Cr Paul Gleeson said the independent reviews also assessed potential risks to Council and the State Government and recommended ways to avoid these risks.
“The first review was conducted by consultant Aurecon and looked at the engineering elements of the proposal to see that it was achievable, while a second review looked at the proposal’s finances and was conducted by BDO Australia,” Cr Gleeson said.
“As with any business proposal, the detail remains commercial in confidence at this time, but the community can be confident these independent reviews have provided invaluable information for Council to benchmark the Walker Corporation proposal against.
“The community can also be confident that further community feedback will be sought as part of the next stages.”
Today’s decision was only in relation to the Walker Corporation’s Toondah Harbour Proposal. Work is continuing on a separate proposal at Redland Bay’s Weinam Creek Priority Development Area.