The Logan City Council almost completely ruined Beenleigh about six years ago just after the then-Labor Government designated Beenleigh as a development hub.
The corner of City Road and George Street was blocked off for a year stopping people from going to their local shops. Now the lights take four times longer to get through than the roundabout that was replaced it did.
Beenleigh businesses were starved of patrons and many businesses closed. There is enough room for that intersection to have been a double lane with enough room for a third turning lane but the council does not care for the welfare of the locals, only that it looks good.
Why would council do this?
The most basic answer is the Designation as a Hub created many development opportunities for the big developers. So Council cheapened Beenleigh so the big developers could make more money and council could reap in big red tape dollars.
I tried to build a $200,000 tin shed on a property that council designated as would be commercial and the red tape charges are more than $350,000. Infrastructure charge alone would have been $285,000.
There are many people like me who do not take advantage of development opportunities because council make them less than marginal. I would have to charge at least another $45,000 a year in rent to cover the red tape. I would expect not to be able to get any tenants or if I did, they would go broke.
When it comes to producing a house and land package the Logan City Council doubles the cost with their red tape charges – $28,000 infrastructure charges for land subdivision, $40,000 in application fees and other charges; $38,000 in infrastructure charges for a house and $40,000+ in other red tape charges for things like sewage connection fees, water connection, and the rest.
Even windows must be certified along with all the other things that go into building a house.
When you produce a story about Logan Council infrastructure charges you make them sound good when what they are really doing is mafia-like.
They are extorting large sums of money from people who have had their rights taken from them to improve their own properties.
The end of all these charges is that home buyers are loaded with a bank debt about three times higher than it should be.
New house and land packages 40 years ago were around twice the average wage. Now they are around six times the average wage. People are being forced to inadvertently borrow to pay council so they can own their own home.
This is economic stupidity and could easily lead to the great depression of the 2030s. The 1930s great depression was caused by debt created by over-valued assets, the prices of which crashed.
Trevor Croll,
Buccan.
