Premier Statement: Transport hub to boost Ipswich's future: Bligh

[ozbob]

Premier
The Honourable Anna Bligh
03/03/2008

Transport hub to boost Ipswich's future: Bligh


Ipswich: The State Government today unveiled a bold plan to revitalise the Ipswich city heart including development of a transport hub that will replace the existing transit centre, rail station and the Bell St bus interchange.

"The sleeping giant of the Ipswich CBD is about to be awakened. This exciting development will potentially include community space, and residential facilities, as well as office space for more than 1200 State Government and other workers," said Premier Anna Bligh.

"To begin with the State will spend $5 million to kick-start detailed planning for this combined transport, business and residential precinct in the heart of Ipswich."

"The timeline is compact."
? The business case will be developed for Cabinet's consideration in August.
? Expressions of interest from the private sector to build the project called by November, with selection of the preferred developer early in 2009.

Speaking at the award-winning Workshops Railway Museum in North Ipswich, the Premier said the funding would help deliver the recently released Ipswich Integrated Strategy and Action Plan.

"That Plan highlighted 17 projects that were vital to help Ipswich continue to grow into a world-class city," Premier Bligh said.

"Adding that many office workers to the middle of town daily will give great confidence to major retailers to then help further support and revitalize the Ipswich CBD."

"We're building a better future for Ipswich and surrounds," the Premier told the more than 550 attendees to today's post- Cabinet gathering.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Paul Lucas said the State's Coordinator-General is proposing to make the area around the project a State Development Area to help deliver the proposal.

"The majority of the area around the planned development is currently under utilized, which is quite different from the integrated transport, community space, residential, office and retail use that's being proposed," Mr Lucas said.

"Declaring a State Development Area would let the state, through the Coordinator-General, carry out the master planning for the area, which would help streamline the development process," Mr Lucas said.

Member for Ipswich Rachel Nolan said that today's announcement is "really fantastic".

"This will finally allow us to breakthrough on the much-needed revitalisation of Central Ipswich.

"The current city centre was condemned to its current dreadful position by poor planning in the 1980s which turned its back on the Bremer.

"Some landholders have been reluctant to invest in our wonderful city's future development. I'm really thrilled that Premier, Deputy Premier and Cabinet are showing such compelling leadership for the people of Ipswich," she said.

Mr Lucas said that the Coordinator-General is considering a State Development Area bounded by the Bremer River, the existing car parking area at River Heart Parklands, the Queensland Rail-owned land on Ellenborough Street, Brisbane Street as far as Marsden Parade and the existing Ipswich rail station car parking area on Marsden Parade to the river bank. (See map, attached.)"

Mr Lucas said the Coordinator-General would seek public comment on the boundaries of the proposed State Development Area, and would make his decision in the next few weeks.

"At the end of the day, this is about delivering a world-class Ipswich city heart with improved connection to, and across, the Bremer River.

Mr Lucas said initial community response to the Ipswich Integrated Strategy and Action Plan, including the proposed transport hub, had been extremely positive.

"That document, developed by the State Government and Ipswich City Council along with community and business leaders, is the planning blueprint that will see the private sector participate in taking Ipswich take its place as a world-class city," Mr Lucas said.

"Getting the middle of the city right is crucial to the future not only of Ipswich, but of the entire corridor to the west of Brisbane."

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Area for development aerial view click here!  PDF

[mufreight]

To have a transport hub one needs to have transport.
at present there exists a formula for increased congestion,
the obvious solution is to provide adequate transport infrastructure,
in the 1950's QR planed for four tracks from Roma Street to Ipswich and then started to build it.
Score so far four tracks from Roma Street to Corinda,
a third track now being built from Corinda to Darra, when it needs four tracks, a fifth platform for Darra that with a little thought is unnesicary and a somewhat complex track arrangement for Darra that when eventually a fourth track is built will need to be torn up and reconfigured.
None of which does much for the capacity of the line between Corinda and Ipswich to provide paths for express passanger services.
Nor does this present shortsighted attitude cater for the expansion of passanger services west of Rosewood.
Transport Hub we might need one but it will require construction, not more hot air.
Perhaps Premier Bligh would care to explain how a new transport hub will be of any benefit if there is not the infrastructure to support it.
Write to your local Member and ask, the answers could be enlightening, and should be posted for all to see, then you could also write to the Premier and ask the same questions, maybe if enough people ask the question someone may realise that spin does not resolve problems.
If enough people ask the right questions the Government just might think about what is needed and if nothing else it is deeds not words.
Over to you

[ozbob]

Improved rail services is an integral part of this development.
The development itself is a good thing, providing accommodation, business and private is not priced out reach of the majority.

Plans to provide extra track capacity beyond Darra are becoming critical.
Budgetary positions are tight. It is time that massive road funding initiatives were channelled into sustainable transport options for the long haul.  The cop out of governments to use private funding is not always a solution.  It often just guarantees rip off and under utilisation eg. the Airport railway service.  Better thought must go into this than some of the other private partnership deals of the past.

Remember when Government actually governed for the whole community?

[ozbob]

From Brisbanetimes click here!

Public service boost for Ipswich

Public service boost for Ipswich
March 3, 2008 - 4:16PM

More than 1200 Queensland public servants will be relocated to Ipswich, west of Brisbane, under state government plans to revitalise the regional centre.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh today announced a multi-pronged approach to redevelop the city's declining CBD.

The plan centres around the development of a transport hub to replace existing infrastructure and the relocation of state government jobs to the city.

Ms Bligh said the government would seek expressions of interest from private developers in November to build the transport, business and residential precinct in the heart of Ipswich.

"We believe that we have the capacity to considerably grow the CBD and for the Queensland public service to become an anchor tenant in a revitalised city area," she told reporters.

Deputy Premier Paul Lucas said the cabinet was considering a proposal to declare the area around the project a state development area to allow the state government to take control of master planning.

Mr Lucas said moving jobs from Brisbane to Ipswich would help ease transport congestion between the two cities.

"If we have cars driving the opposite way on the Ipswich motorway, (people) catching the train in the opposite way in the morning, that's good for traffic flow, it's good for the environment, and it just makes plain good sense," he said.

Ms Bligh said the government planned to make Ipswich the first of several public service "satellite hubs" across the state's south-east.

AAP

[ozbob]

Media release from Community Action for Sustainable Transport

http://sustainable-transport.blogspot.com/2008/03/media-tuesday-4-march.html

State plans for Ipswich CBD and public transport interchange

State plans for Ipswich CBD and public transport interchange

Monday's announcement by the Premier, Anna Bligh, of plans by the State to take control of planning in Ipswich's CBD has been welcomed by the community transport group, Community Action for Sustainable Transport [CAST].

CAST supports the move to upgrade the railway station and bus interchange.

The existing station and interchange are failing to properly cater for the increasing demand for public transport services by the Ipswich community.

The need for better quality facilities and services for commuters has been apparent for the last five years following the explosive growth in housing and workplaces in surrounding suburbs.

CAST particularly supports the intention to construct office space to house up to 1200 State
Government workers.

We have regularly urged the State to relocate many of its Government departments from Brisbane's

CBD to suburban hubs and regional growth areas like Ipswich and Cleveland, said CAST president David White.

The benefits to the community generally and to the State of decentralising its workplaces and services include substantial cost savings from reduced travelling times, and significant reductions in demands for new and costly infrastructure to cope with transport congestion caused by local workers and families having to travel long distances every day during peak hours.

The State now needs to take action to complete the Darra to Springfield line and all associated stations by 2011, and to fast-track construction of the connection between Springfield and Ipswich.

This will be essential if the new workers in the Ipswich CBD are to have fast and efficient access to their workplaces.

We do however believe that the intention to introduce a private investor to construct the new centre has the potential to increase the cost of the project unnecessarily. The State's record of success using public-private partnerships is not good.

[mufreight]

Improved rail services is an integral part of this development.
The development itself is a good thing, providing accommodation, business and private is not priced out reach of the majority.

Plans to provide extra track capacity beyond Darra are becoming critical.
Budgetary positions are tight. It is time that massive road funding initiatives were channelled into sustainable transport options for the long haul.  The cop out of governments to use private funding is not always a solution.  It often just guarantees rip off and under utilisation eg. the Airport railway service.  Better thought must go into this than some of the other private partnership deals of the past.

Remember when Government actually governed for the whole community?

Captain Bligh has a grand vision for an Ipswich transport hub but one must question as to how it will be possible without the supporting infrastructure

The Premier makes this grand proposal but it will require a radical upgrading of rail infrastructure which will cost.  This is the same Premier who says that we can not afford to build Springfield until 2015 if the state can not afford the expendature to build the Springfield line how can it afford the infrastructure needed to support an Ipswich transport hub.

Perhapst the question that we should all be asking of both trhe Premier and your local member is not can the state (and we the electors of Queensland) afford to build the much needed infrastructure but cAN THE STATE AFFORD NOT TO BUILD THIS INFRASTRUCTURE NOW?

Write to the Premier and your local member and ask, their responses will be of interest to many and their self interest if there is a significant number of people ask these questions just may motivate them to a more practical and realistic response. 

We can but hope, but it is worth a try.
Cheers.

[SteelPan]

This issue of "transport hubs" paving the way for a better future for key regions of SE Qld is really nothing new.

Look, it's been tried at Roma Street (universal award winner for ugliest development in CBD) Brunswick Street - never set the Valley alive did it?  The one smart one was Central (with the Sheraton, now Sofitel above it) and similar things are comming for Vulture St, Milton and others.  Toowong has also been successful, not sure about the tower, but WOW it's a magnet for the hottest girls around.... sorry, back to the topic.

Again, in Qld (the Smart State) we get sidetracked into getting into bed with developers and helping make their (lololol, sorry just whenever I say/type "Smart State" sets me right off  ) anyway...we, as already said, NEED MORE TRANSPORT SERVICES, forget Go Cards, Stop Cards, GrEen Cards and Pink Cards - we NEED MORE SERVICES.  Who's sipping a martini 12 floors above in their apartment or hotel room or who's buying a new pair of shoes, has stuff all to do with BETTER TRANSPORT.  MORE TRAINS, MORE TRAIN LINES....