Mayor’s column | Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce – January 2025
A year in review
Happy new year. As we begin to turn our attention to the year ahead, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the year that was. 2024 was full of defining moments for our city. Together with the community, we shared in many achievements.
Our economy surged past the $13 billion mark, growing by 6.8 per cent on the year before, demonstrating our city’s resilience in the face of challenging inflation and rising costs of living.
I’m proud to say council was named Innovator of the Year in the inaugural 2024 Small Business Friendly Awards for the Ipswich Central Revitalisation Project – this is testament to how important our local businesses are to our city.
We progressed our successful We Can’t Wait advocacy campaign, amplifying the voices of Ipswich residents. Through the campaign, council secured significant commitments towards projects that have been on our community’s wish-list for years, including the funding for the progression of the Ipswich Central Second River Crossing to shovel ready status and upgrades to the Cunningham Highway.
Council remains on the cusp of delivering a new planning scheme, Ipswich Plan 2024, and is now awaiting the State to give its final sign off before it comes to council for final endorsement.
The revitalisation of our city’s heart has also achieved major milestones, including the completion of some construction works in the Nicholas Street Precinct. This year we have welcomed anchor tenants, HOYTS, General Public, Hotel Commonwealth as well as Head to Health and Kickin’ Inn and we have seen almost 1.2 million people flock through our revitalised city centre.
I eagerly anticipate the next chapter in Ipswich’s story as we shape a vibrant and inclusive city that honours its past while embracing and maximising new opportunities.
Land acquired for koala conservation
Council is committed to supporting our natural environment. I’m very pleased that koala habitat is set to be expanded in Ipswich.
Just before the end of the year, council made the decision to move forward with the acquisition of 32 hectares of land at South Ripley, under the Enviroplan Levy, to protect the pristine natural environment.
The land in South Ripley is important to the environment in building connections between council’s two core conservation areas – White Rock-Spring Mountain Conservation Estate and Flinders-Goolman Conservation Estate.
Council is committed to being one of the cleanest and greenest cities in Queensland, so we will continue to advocate for the environment whether it be through these land acquisitions, our commitment to renewable power and energy efficiency or repurposing flood-hit properties as green spaces.
The Falls reopens at Robelle Domain
The Falls at Robelle Domain has reopened after council cleared nearly 10,000 tonnes of sediment from the basin area.
This was a big job that took almost three months after multiple recent flood events washed down significant amounts of sediment and stopped the Falls from functioning properly.
This work cost about $2.4 million because it required complex specialised treatments and disposals, and was jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
Council is considering The Falls’ future with consultants already commissioned to look at ways to reduce flood impacts and improve the area’s flood resilience, to prevent this costly clean-up happening again.
But for now, I am delighted to see the Falls back in action for families to enjoy, especially during the summer months.