PDA announced to revitalise Townsville’s waterfront

The Queensland Government has this week declared the Townsville City Waterfront Priority Development Area, aimed at revitalising 97.2 hectares of the city’s waterfront on both sides of Ross Creek.

The Property Council has been an active advocate of Council’s goal of attracting up to 30,000 people to live and work in Townsville’s CBD by 2030. Opportunities for revitalising the CBD were the theme of a recent workshop hosted by the Property Council and Townsville Chamber.

The PDA has the potential to be a key element of this revitalisation.  

Planning and approval responsibilities within the PDA will primarily be the role of Townsville City Council, with responsibility for elements of the site retained by the Queensland Government and the Port of Townsville.  

Under the PDA, Council aims to reduce development approval timeframes to 40 days – an improvement of more than 90 per cent.

Public consultation on the PDA will take place in early 2015 at which point more information will be made available.

The Queensland Government’s media statement and the map of the proposed site can be found here.