Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
- Read the story: Light rail scrutiny as public transport options considered
I read with disbelief that light rail is still in the mix for solving traffic problems on the Sunshine Coast. Public consultation a few months ago vehemently voted against such a move. Why is council treating the ratepayers this way? Or is this to ensure high-rise along the light rail route?
Dennis Archer, Minyama
- Read the story: Aura South proposal going to public consultation
As a resident of Nirimba, I do not approve the Aura South development.
Stockland has not provided any of the facilities that were marketed when selling land in Aura. They are happy to market it as a vibrant city for seven-and-a-half years on billboards, but there is nothing here except houses and a few parks.
At a public meeting in May 2023 at Brohuahua when asked when the Aura city centre and public parkland would be started, the Stockland representatives could not even give us a year when the first “sod of soil” would be estimated to be turned. Not an even a year.
There was a bus load of people that had built at the over-50s complex and they were so shocked at this news. The marketing that sold them to buy in the area was that they would have all the facilities on their doorstep.
The only information that they could tell us was that the Bells Creek Arterial Road would be open in July 2023, which did not happen, that the petrol station would not be getting built for at least another year, and that KFC would open in July.
When you contact them they just fob you off with the sentence: “It’s important to understand that you purchased in a developing community. Consequently, ongoing changes and fluidity in plans are to be expected until construction is complete.”
Clare Fitzgerald, Nirimba
- Read the story: Road hazards ‘no excuse for bad driving habits’
I live at Dicky Beach Caravan Park and I’m concerned about the amount of vehicles that speed on Beerburrum Street out the front of the caravan park. It’s 40km/h but people just ignore it.
I’ve contacted council and police to no avail. Nothing has been done about it. I’m worried that someone may get injured or die from this negligence.
The 40km/h signs you can’t see because of vegetation in front of them. One of them you can’t see at all due to a pole being in the way, as well as a tree.
Neil Chapman, Dicky Beach
Clogged roads and parking are becoming a massive problem here on the Sunshine Coast, like everywhere else in Australia.
Surely councils have some forethought into predicting population growth, but nevertheless hand out approvals for housing developments builds, without including road and highway access to these sites. It is a no-brainer.
We lived in Wurtulla off the Nicklin Way for many years. With the population growth increasing we decided to move to Bli Bli, thinking of rural, a little quieter and so on. Almost two years on (we are quite happy living in an over-50s) we are finding our area has been consumed by so much traffic as most vehicles now find their way to other destinations through roads in Bli Bli.
In March 2023, the Minister for Transport committed for further planning into upgrades and regular maintenance to ensure safety. The Labor Government said it would deliver almost $3.1 billion of roads across the Sunshine Coast over the next four years. This figure seems to cover all infrastructure, not just Bli Bli and environs. Just how much will they will be allocating for the Bli Bli bridge? Why can’t they build another bypass to alleviate traffic flow in Bli Bli?
The new Bli Bli tavern will be supposedly be opened in November 2023. A small new housing development has been approved for a build on the Yandina Bli Bli road. The Good Samaritan school, which is located on the Parklakes Drive, has been allocated more car parking and we hear that there will be more students attending this school in the near future.
Some of our roads are already in need of repair, especially after trucks and buses also frequent these often.
We think Mark Bailey should certainly address this issue and or at least give a valued response why not sooner and not in the next four years.
You only need to look at our increased new settlers from other areas to see that if roads are not properly built now to accommodate us, we will be in a much worse situation than ever before.
Woody Jehle and Pamela Franks, Bli Bli
- Read the story: Vans ‘monopolising’ spaces prompts overnight parking ban
We are grey nomads, worked hard our whole life and spend many months each year in Queensland, mainly due to the weather. Over 15 years we have never stayed in a free camp, showground or illegal areas, mainly as I enjoy the facilities that caravan parks have, and also the security of a park. We have met many, many people over these years, and a lot do stay in the free camps or showgrounds: I have no problem with that, each to their own.
I do have a problem with those that refuse to use a caravan park, and stay in the areas that the local council has deemed (for whatever reason) “No camping or overnight stays”. We stay in Maroochydore and these people come into our park and “steal” the facilities we pay for. The park has a problem, but no remedy.
I certainly do know that there are areas around the Sunshine Coast that would be suitable for “free camping” or “cheap camping” controlled by the council, but I doubt whether this would solve the problem as these people want all the best and pay the least (or nothing).
Please don’t get me wrong, I am not talking about the “homeless” – that is another problem all together – but those people who actively decide to go to an area and refuse to pay their way, and bludge off the goodness of everybody else, using local facilities, making a mess, being rowdy and generally being a pain in the arse. These are the people we need to control.
It will be interesting to see what happens in Noosa, but I think this might just move the problem to somewhere else (like Maroochydore).
Richard Basevi, Ocean Grove, Victoria
Firstly, fully equipped motorhomes are not campers, they are self-contained with a toilet, shower, water, electricity, gas, store any waste water, rubbish bins and so on.
In most cases the vans/cars without these above-mentioned amenities are the ones who are getting us all a bad name with their bad habits and don’t-care-less attitude with rubbish dumping. If toilets close after say 9-10pm or no toilets are available, so-called campers soil the areas around the parking lots. This is not acceptable and l agree that something had to be done, but don’t punish us all because of the few.
The Sunshine Coast has many holidaymakers this time of the year and many of those come from interstate and also overseas. The overseas travellers are the ones to blame for a lot of the breaches committed to the council by-laws, they are only visiting and think ‘we’ll be gone in the morning and someone else will clean up the mess’.
We motorhome travellers (mostly) are responsible members of the community and we actually care for the environment – we pick up litter/rubbish dropped or scattered in public areas (l know l do), so councillors, don’t punish all of us for a few bad/selfish visitors to your towns. By all means, make a stand but please don’t wave the big stick and punish all of us for the few.
We do bring a lot of business to your towns and we spend plenty of money. The caravan parks are not cheap and, being fully self-sufficient, we don’t need to stay overnight in them. Yes, by all means, have some overnight allocated parking spots with maybe a small fee or time limit for staying there, and maybe a toilet dump point with fresh water (with a purchase meter to purchase the fresh water like they have in Coober Pedy).
Bob Tuddenham, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
The letters to the editor continue the same theme we’ve seen for the past year. Councils, are you even listening to the people? Grey Nomads, local residents and the homeless have all been giving you the answers week after week.
The homeless did not create this problem but are being punished for it, hounded by councils, even police: much like mortgage holders are being punished for inflation caused by greedy corporations. No wonder people are angry.
I couldn’t read this piece and not respond to those illegal campers who are up in arms about their “rights”.
Good on you Noosa Shire for making a stand and responding to the ever-increasing problem of illegal campers. I only wish the Sunshine Coast Council would follow suit.
The crackdown is absolutely required. As residents, we are sick of these illegals, claiming to be “homeless” in their $60,000 converted buses, campervans and motorhomes.
They are not homeless, but wanting to live a free life next to the beach at our expense, rather than holidaying or living in caravan parks where they should be.
And if they can’t afford that, how about living somewhere within your means like everyone else has to do.
If Aussie World is the only place available for campers who can’t afford Sunshine Coast caravan parks, then suck it up and stop being so entitled to believe you have a right to set up a permanent presence wherever you like on the beachfront and in our streets where often there are no toilets or facilities.
Where do these illegals ablute? Yes, I agree we need to help homeless people, but let’s separate the genuine homeless people from the many lifestyle free-loaders parking up for weeks on end on our esplanades and beach access points.
Glenn Firth, Sunshine Coast
Yes, the Coast is imploding with people. I hear all this talk about it being sustainable. At what cost?It seems the environment has been stripped of its beautiful appeal. Lifestyle has gone out the window, the infrastructure for this amount of people has been poorly executed. There have been so many trees cut down and noise pollution is the worst it has ever been in the last 30 years I have lived here.Crime is higher and the relaxed vibe that appealed to most has been replaced with aggression and an influx of rudeness and mindlessness.The kangaroos, water dragons, echidnas, king parrots, koalas, that were a backyard staple in Buderim have lost their homes. At what cost? Is anyone really thinking about the overall consequences for society, about the wildlife, about the fauna?Does anyone even care anymore? It seems all decisions in life right now are built around capitalism and not in the true interest of human beings and the future of our planet.Or the Sunshine Coast.Surely cramming people in housing estates so close to one another is a disaster waiting to happen. Mentally not healthy. Should be a law against it. They will radiate that much heat, and the sound of a hundred barking dogs is enough to drive anyone mad. Let alone having 900 neighbours so close. After a few years, watch the mental state of them all decline and their stress levels rise. Yep, no more relaxed vibe there. That’s right, like Byron Bay.Do not get me started on the lack of infrastructure on the town planning, roads, schools, health care etc for the pop-up estates.Yes, the Coast may get more people, yet the Coast is just another overcrowded little town with poorly executed infrastructure to handle it. Most of the land here is sinking. There is no correct drainage facilities to cater for all that extra water. The Coast has so many flood pockets that it is quite frightening to think how far developers will take this, before actually putting in the real measures first to handle the growth and to maintain the integrity of the environment, the noise pollution, the pollution and the rubbish management.Thinking of a money grab is how this all goes. You see it in everyone’s faces. The sadness of what is happening to this once beautiful special place.It could have been so much more beautiful. Build high-rises with thought-out planning, and beautiful restaurants overlooking the best views in the world.
Yet no, let’s throw some building up. Lifestyle and maintaining the environment is not of concern at all. Just someone’s pocket getting heavier.
The stickers of ‘I love Buderim’ were so true for many years. I am deeply grateful that I was able to cherish that time here. That beautiful hilltop vibe. It’s gone forever. The charm has been tainted and the place is being ruined. I truly cried as I drove down Dixon Road to see so many trees gone and pop-up houses replaced.
The Coast is being destroyed: we are not the Gold Coast. Our roads are not equipped for this, let alone our hearts. Well done at destroying another place that should have been heritage-listed. Well done.
Linda Butler, Buderim
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
