Ipswich City Council Administrators Update - Vision 2020 January 2020

Can we recoup the $78 million loss on the Ipswich CBD redevelopment? It appears very unlikely that the completion of the redevelopment will recoup much of the ratepayer value lost over the previous decade. The graph below shows that both the civic assets currently under construction and the Nicholas

Street retail assets that will be redeveloped are “profitable” in that they are expected to provide value higher than the costs incurred. But the combined surplus value of these projects will not be sufficient to recoup the lost value of the past.

Why do we now have to sometimes obtain licences, approvals and apply for funding for community events when it was far easier before? In many cases, council has made changes to comply with the existing law or to ensure that council acts in accordance with its own rules. Your council now manages applications to hold and fund community events through an open, accountable and equitable process. Specialist council officers are available to assist community organisations applying for event licences or funding. Why has council committed to building a $220m stadium at the North Ipswich Reserve? It hasn’t. A “boutique” 20,000 seat stadium is a necessary prerequisite to secure a national competition licence for football and/or rugby league; an initial cost estimate of $220m has been based on a preliminary master plan for such a stadium.

In order to help the codes pursue state and commonwealth funding for this venue, your council has provided an in-principle commitment of $10m to future redevelopment of a stadium at the North Ipswich Reserve, with any actual expenditure by council being subject to the prior achievement of all of the following four prerequisites: a) The outcomes of a Strategic Business Case and Concept Design supporting development of a stadium of this scale; b) A commitment of at least equivalent funding by both the state and commonwealth governments towards the redevelopment; c) An agreement that tenure of the stadium will be transferred from your council to the state, with all subsequent capital and operating costs of the stadium being met by the state; and d) That either sports code obtains a licence or has a commitment to obtain a licence from the relevant sports administrative body to operate an A League or NRL competition team or equivalent.

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