Residents fight for wildlife Industrial estate planned at North Maclean
Reported by Jessica McKenzie This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. NORTH Maclean residents are fighting tooth and nail to protect vulnerable native flora and fauna from an industrial development.
The North Maclean Enterprise Precinct sits on a 117 hectare site on the corner of Crowson Lane and the Mt Lindesay Highway. The applicant proposes to clear-fell the whole site including small areas of the federally endan-gered melaleuca irbyana.
Logan and Albert Conservation Association president and Stanley Court resident Anne Page said the site was valuable habitat for wildlife including the endangered spotted-tail quoll, and vulnerable koala.
The proposal is currently seeking approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, with invitations to comment closing on March 9.
Ms Page said the report submitted for assessment was lacking in critical information, including a detailed species survey. "There are other species that are vulnerable in Queensland that won't get a look-in during this consultation," she said.
The North Maclean site was first ear-marked for development by Beaudesert Shire Council in 1996, however by 2007 the council had changed its mind.
Ms Page said the project had changed names several times since and most of the community was unaware that the area was added to the Greater Flagstone Development Area in 2010.
"We really must emphasise the community has never been given the right to say no to this, ever," she said. "No-one's ever asked us, do you want this huge area of industrial development in the middle of a rural residential area?"