New park on Birdwood Road

Campaign Update (September 2023): We've had a win from Brisbane City Council taking us a step towards a new park on Birdwood Road, but a private developer on the site is fighting to keep their decade-old development alive with extensions, and remove a long-agreed shared bike path from the site. Head here for a full update and how you can get involved with these latest developments.

With a growing population, the inner southside of Brisbane desperately needs more public parkland.

Parks help build a more connected community, break down social isolation and create public spaces for kids to play and people to meet. Far from a luxury, parks are an essential part of life.

Vacant land along Birdwood Road is perfect for public parkland.

Much of this land sits within council flood mapping and is considered at ‘high risk’ of flooding. Developing and concreting over this land will not only risk flooding any development on the site, but also push storm water onto Birdwood Road and surrounding residents. Norman Creek runs through the entire site, and provides crucial natural habitat for many native plant and animal species. Acquiring the land for public parkland will help protect Norman Creek and establish a wildlife corridor from Stones Corner to Holland Park West. Keeping this area green will make Brisbane a more flood-resilient city.

This is an excellent opportunity to link Roseglen Street Park and Joachim Street Park, and establish cycle and walkways that connect thousands of people to broader Brisbane, taking thousands of cars off the road.

Meanwhile, protecting and expanding public parkland is an important part of making Brisbane resilient to a warming climate. Parkland and waterways help prevent the ‘urban heat island’ effect, where areas lose trees, vegetation and waterways that otherwise help cool the surrounding environment. This can make an urban area up to 5.9 degrees hotter.

I recently hosted a local community meeting about a new park on Birdwood Road

Too often precious inner-city land is handed over to developers without sensible forward planning for public infrastructure, including public parks. And right now we have a good opportunity to claim back some land for the public.

I have made winning a public park in the Birdwood Road area for the community a key priority. With broad public support, I am confident we could push Council to acquire the land as part of their overall Norman Creek catchment strategy, as the Creek runs through the vacant land. Brisbane City Council’s Norman Creek 2012–2031 Project aims to ‘return the Norman Creek catchment to a more natural state’, through the improvement of parkland and adjoining waterways. A budget of $5.25 million has been set aside for this.

Recently, I wrote to the local councillor and deputy mayor, Krista Adams, to understand Council's intentions for this area and discuss the community support for a new park here. If you’ve signed our petition for new parkland, I can keep you up to date by email when I hear back.

Sign our petition for new parkland on Birdwood Road on this page. You can also support the campaign by signing up for one of our yard signs here.

1,500 Signatures

1,200 Signatures

Will you sign?

Would you support turning the vacant land on both sides of Birdwood Road into a new public park?

We petition the Brisbane City Council and Queensland State Government to buy back the land along Birdwood Road in Holland Park West to be made into public parkland.

With a growing population and the world coming to Brisbane for the Olympics, the inner southside of Brisbane desperately needs more public parkland. It will help build a more connected community, break down social isolation, create public spaces for kids to play and people to meet. Far from a luxury - it is an essential part of life. This land specifically should be acquired because:

- Much of this vacant land sits within council flood mapping and is considered at “high risk” of flooding. Developing and concreting over this land could push stormwater onto Birdwood Road and surrounding residents. The site itself is also likely to flood.

- Norman Creek runs through the entire site and provides a crucial natural habitat for many native plant and animal species. Acquiring the land for public parkland will help protect Norman Creek and establish a wildlife corridor from Stones Corner to Holland Park West.

- This is an excellent opportunity to link Roseglen Street Park and Joachim Street Park, and establish cycle and walkways that connect thousands of people to broader Brisbane, taking thousands of cars off the road.

From children’s playgrounds to sporting facilities, community gardens and BBQs - 6 hectares of public parkland could include all sorts of valuable community assets. We call on the Brisbane City Council and the State government to reacquire this land at market value for the benefit of local residents and future generations.