Brisbane Racing Membership has insisted its Eagle Farm racecourse isn’t on the market amid a push from the Greens to compulsorily resume the land to make approach for publicly owned housing.
Of their newest pitch to voters forward of the March 16 council election, the Greens have unveiled a $40 million dedication to accumulate the racecourse in the event that they win energy at Brisbane Metropolis Council.
They’ve proposed 4,000 council-owned properties be constructed on the location, with half put aside as social housing for these on the state authorities’s housing register.
The Greens need the remaining half to be reasonably priced homes that may be rented out at 30 per cent under market worth.
Greens lord mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan wouldn’t put a set determine on how a lot it could value to construct the housing, saying the council would want to barter with the state for funds.
“The Greens’ proposal is about recognising that we want extra public housing to assist tackle the housing disaster,” Mr Sriranganathan mentioned.
“We’re trying across the metropolis for websites the place extra housing and inexperienced house and neighborhood services might be included, and this [the racecourse] looks like a extremely apparent alternative.”
Mr Sriranganathan mentioned the council would generate rental income from the proposed reasonably priced housing, which might enable it to assist repay the development prices.
The Greens additionally need the location to function parklands and sports activities fields, native forests and public faculty services.
The social gathering says it could search to barter to accumulate the location within the first occasion however would compulsorily resume it if vital.
Mr Sriranganathan claimed the 159-year-old racecourse was price $35 million based mostly on its present improvement potential and the zoning of the land.
‘It isn’t on the market’
Brisbane Racing Membership chief government Tony Partridge disputed {that a} council would have the ability to renew the Eagle Farm racecourse for a housing mission.
“Native politicians merely do not have the ability to accumulate this land for housing or a goal you’ll assume is a state authorities goal,” he mentioned.
“We benefit from the assist of each main political events at a state stage, and we all know it merely cannot occur.”
Mr Partridge mentioned the location was not on the market and would by no means be up on the market, describing it because the “golden goose” of the state’s racing trade that employs 15,000 folks.
“In wagering turnover, it [the site] turns over $1 billion a 12 months,” he mentioned.
“We have now a payroll of $20 million a 12 months. That is an unlimited financial contribution.
“I am not going to place a quantity on it [the value of the site], as a result of it isn’t on the market.”
Labor and LNP vital of Greens proposal
LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner mentioned he supported the racecourse staying the place it was, as he labelled the Greens’ proposal an “unfunded thought bubble”.
He additionally believes the value tag of buying the location could be upwards of $400 million.
Labor’s Lord Mayoral candidate Tracey Worth mentioned Brisbane wanted extra housing however solid doubt on the Greens’ plan.
“I am undecided although how compulsorily buying Eagle Farm for what looks as if an underestimated price ticket of $40 million is the reply,” she mentioned.
The Greens at present maintain one of many 26 wards at Brisbane Metropolis Council.
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