A community group fighting against the Coomera Connecter entering the Eagleby Wetlands says Transport and Main Roads (TMR) is playing dirty by resuming land and destroying native wildlife.
But TMR has refuted these claims.
The Coomera Connecter is a future 45 kilometre transport corridor between Loganholme and Nerang, east of the Pacific Motorway, intended to ease congestion on the m1.
The Eagleby Community and Wetlands Group have been campaigning against the Eagleby stage of the connecter for four years, with fears of environmental damage and negative ramifications for local residents.
Six alternative routes were submitted to TMR – one of which was submitted by the Eagleby group – for the connector to take so it can bypass the wetlands.
All six proposals were rejected.
A TMR spokesperson told MyCityLogan the community was informed of the reasoning behind the rejections in 2021.
“Six alternative alignments put forward by the community for the Coomera Connector around Eagleby were assessed,” the TMR spokesperson said.
“Community consultation was undertaken in early 2021 to seek feedback on the results of the assessment.
“The independent assessment, which was supported by experts in the areas of traffic modelling, environment, and cost estimating, determined the gazetted Coomera Connector alignment provides the best overall outcome compared to the alternative alignments.”
The Eagleby group said they feared for the safety of the wetlands flora and fauna, including echidnas, wallabies and over 200 species of bird.
The group said TMR neglected to conduct the necessary studies to determine the environmental impacts of the connector.
TMR said the studies were currently underway.
“Protecting the environment is an important part of planning for new road and infrastructure projects and we are committed to environmentally sensitive design and construction practises,” the spokesperson said.
“Preparation of environmental approvals with the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW)) under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is currently underway for the future stages of the Coomera Connector between Loganholme and Coomera.
“We place a high value on input from the community and will continue to offer opportunities for consultation with stakeholders throughout development of the business case and environmental approvals.”
Local chatter also suggested ten properties in Eagleby were resumed by the state government in order to start construction on the connector.
TMR have said otherwise.
“No resumptions have taken place for the future stages of Coomera Connector,” the TMR spokesperson said.
“We have undertaken a series of early acquisition of properties where owners have contacted us and demonstrated hardship.”
TMR early acquisition policy states settlement is reached when TMR and the landowner mutually agree on the market value of a property.
“The policy is based on the premise that TMR will accept early acquisitions when planning has advanced to a stage where the project has a preferred alignment and the land requirement has been identified (or exceptional circumstances exist) and the applicant is experiencing genuine hardship,” the policy reads.
TMR said the Eagleby stage of the connector was still “in the planning phase”.
