The last tract of open bushand at Springfield, Woogaroo Forest.
IPSWICH residents want Springfield City Group (SCG) developers to update its local plan to align with state koala and other endangered species protection laws.
The Save Woogaroo Forest Group has written to Ipswich Council, the State Government and SCG demanding The Springfield Structure Plan (SSP), which is embedded in the Ipswich Planning Scheme, is brought into line with state and national wildlife preservation and koala habitat conservation laws.
Updating the Structure Plan requires the agreement of Springfield City Group.
The Ipswich Planning Scheme is bound by the 30-year-old Springfield Structure Plan, a document that now threatens to clear 160ha of land for development at Woogaroo Forest.
Development applications within the Springfield Structure Plan area are not required to go before the council for debate, with Springview Village 3 now set to be rubber stamped on December 23 behind closed doors by council planners.
The forest at 7001 Mur Boulevard, 7006 Panorama Drive and 1 Telopea Way, at Springfield, will be flattened by Stockland for 1,800 dwellings.
It is a critical habitat for koalas, powerful owls, echidnas, platypus, brush-tailed phascogales and gliders.
A spokeswoman for Save Woogaroo Forest Group Inc said: “It appears Council is not interested in updating the Springfield Structure Plan to align with state and federal laws for endangered wildlife and habitat conservation, or it would have done so by now.
“Council has not updated the Springfield Structure Plan to protect the 80-plus known native species of vertebrates, 130-plus known native species of birds and over 200-plus species of native plants that call Woogaroo Forest home.
“The decades-old Structure Plan is cited by councillors and our mayor as the reason the council cannot stop the ‘Springview Village 2 &3’ development.”
“The Plan must be updated to protect the environmental, aesthetic and social values of the land under threat from this development and three other adjacent developments.”
A Save Woogaroo Forest Group petition now stands at 13,885-plus signatures.
