How can SEQ balance the need for housing with the desire to stay green?

For five years, Nigel Maher has lived beside a long, narrow patch of bushland at Bridgeman Downs where wallabies, possums and myriad birds swirl all day.

Bridgeman Downs, on Brisbane’s northern fringe, is an example of ongoing efforts to balance the need for houses with the desire to protect the environment. It traces back to 2020, if not further, when the Queensland government announced koala habitat legislation.

A new report shows the legislation stopped 750 homes from being built in south-east Queensland koala habitat. Most were in Moreton Bay Council area (320), a review of the legislation shows.

In Brisbane, where Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has warned of unsustainable population growth, the legislation stopped 150 homes being built.

On Beckett Road in Bridgeman Downs, the Labor opposition in council believes 2.8 hectares of remnant bushland should be purchased using the Bushland Preservation Levy.

The Schrinner administration, however, says a recent Planning and Environment Court ruling confirmed it was already protected under the existing neighbourhood plan.

While a bid to put a service station on the site has seemingly failed, the local community has become accustomed to subdivisions and some expect housing will be proposed next.

“I’m in two minds,” Maher said.