A Queensland council says it was not warned homes in a new housing development could be resumed for Bruce Highway upgrades, when plans were assessed by the state government two years ago.
Homeowners in the new Aspire development in Griffin, north of Brisbane, this week received an email from the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) saying planning had "identified a future land requirement".
"We intend to proceed with protected planning over the full property," the notice said.
All home lots in the development have been purchased and many residents only moved in within the past three months, while other houses are at varying stages of completion.
Transport and Main Roads confirmed the owners of 24 residential lots on Venture Drive, which runs along the Bruce Highway, were contacted about the plans.
A Moreton Bay Regional Council spokesperson said while the roadworks were "absolutely essential", the resumption letters came as a surprise.
"Council approved these housing lots in Griffin back in 2020 and when those plans were referred to the state government for assessment, they didn't say there was the potential for property resumptions in this area," the spokesperson said.
"The Mayor and Deputy Mayor haven't yet been briefed by Department of Transport and Main Roads on the Griffin property resumptions, and will be meeting with them next week about it."
The state government will today hold a summit designed to alleviate the pressure in the housing sector that is forcing up the cost of living across the state, including how to make more housing stock available.
New house to be 'torn down in the middle of a housing crisis'
Charmaine and James Jackson and their children moved into their new home at Griffin on September 1.
The email from TMR indicating they may lose it, came as a complete surprise.
Mr Jackson said authorities should have planned better before allowing people to move into new houses "only to tell them that they're going to be torn down in the middle of a housing crisis".
"Surely they would have had the backup plan in place for, maybe, let's add extra lanes to the highway — I'm sure my four-year-old could figure that out."
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said yesterday the council should have been aware of the Bruce Highway upgrade plans.
"This has been an announced upgrade with joint federal and state government funding since 2019, so it would surprise me if local governments are saying they haven't heard about this, it's been in the public domain for three years," he said.
"It's never a good process and of course these are relatively recent approvals by the local governments involved, so I can appreciate why they would feel aggrieved by the process.
"If we do require someone's property, we get independent evaluations and market rates, so that we make sure that people who are impacted in the end, that they are looked after and that they get fair value and compensation."
A spokesperson for TMR said property resumptions were a "sensitive but necessary part of building new infrastructure".
"We approach each case with the utmost compassion," the spokesperson said.
"In an ideal world, road upgrades would be done without any impact on people's homes, but unfortunately this is not always possible."
The department said time frames for design and construction of the future upgrades were not known, and would depend on future funding.
"There are no plans to start a formal resumption process."
Deputy Premier and Planning Minister Steven Miles, who is also the local MP, said an announcement was made by the then federal government in 2018 about possible on ramps in the area but they only got the green light after the Albanese government promised funding.
Mr Miles, who addressed the issue at the housing summit where 200 people have gathered to find ways to tackle housing pressures across the state, said it was not possible to identify potential impacts to the newly developed land earlier.
"It wasn't until those studies were completed and the more recent additional funding provided by the Commonwealth government that it was possible to identify which properties may be affected," he said.
"Now that those properties have been identified the owners have now been notified and there'll be ongoing public consultation to refine exactly which properties will be required."
Developer worked with TMR
Fairland Group Pty Ltd, the developer of the Aspire estate, said it was planned in accordance with all relevant approvals "including the necessary works as directed by TMR as a referral agency".
General manager Scott Searle said the company had not been made aware of any potential acquisitions for Bruce Highway upgrades before it concluded ownership of the land in October, 2021.
"If TMR has informed residents of the commencement of future investigation studies or acquisitions, this has been completed independent to any previous or current land owners," he said in a statement.
The council spokesperson said the state government needed to provide the community certainty over other developments planned for the growing region to ensure this didn't happen again.
"TMR cannot repeat this kind of short notice," the spokesman said.
"Council again implores TMR to declare a route for the Bruce Highway Western Alternative.
"Residents need and deserve this kind of certainty, before construction on the Caboolture West Development Area gets underway."
