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The state government will help build a district from scratch north of Brisbane.Credit:Paul Rovere

A specialist team wascreated this month to accelerate land supply in areas between Tweed Heads and Noosa.

The population of south-east Queensland’s “200-kilometre city” was predicted to grow by 1.5 million to 5 million in 20 years,making it about the same population as Sydney in 2021.

The 258-hectare neighbourhood development plan at Caboolture West was the first in the growth program,which Deputy Premier and Planning Minister Steven Miles said would improve housing choice and affordability.

“I asked for the team’s first priority to be to identify a pilot site where the state and council could work with the private sector and utility providers to support future housing needs,” he said.

Land in Caboolture West will be developed under a new planning experiment.Credit:Moreton Bay Regional Council

“Work will also identify the infrastructure necessary to support more affordable,liveable communities.

“Working together on the pilot,we can test,evaluate and learn from a co-ordinated effort to plan for future housing needs.”

About 3000 homes will be built in the neighbourhood,eventually growing to 30,000 houses for about 70,000 people.

“Caboolture West will ultimately be a major regional urban centre that will support 17,000 jobs and have many social benefits including new health and education centres as well as sport and recreation facilities and plenty of new homes for Queenslanders,” Mr Miles said.

The Urban Development Institute of Australia’s Queensland branch warned last year that large parts of the south-east had fallen behind standard land availability benchmarks.

Under state government rules,all local government areas should have four years’ worth of land ready to go to market to ensure annual dwelling targets were met.

The UDIA research found Brisbane and Moreton Bay had 3.7 years’ worth of land supply available,while the Gold Coast had 1.7 years,the Sunshine Coast 2.4 years and Redland City 2.5 years.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said it was “shameful” not enough land was available,with some Queenslanders forced to live in their cars,in garages or with family and friends.

“We need to make more land available and we need to build the roads,water and sewerage to support it,” he said.

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