Detention basins on the way for Toowoomba parks - ABC Local

The voices of protestors were loud as Toowoomba Regional Councillors voted on the controversial detention basin scheme for East Creek in Toowoomba.

Councillors voted unanimously to build dentition basins Garnett Lehmann Park and Ballin Drive Park.

Mayor Paul Antonio says since the devastating 2011 floods that claimed two lives, and caused millions of dollars damage to the Toowoomba CBD, changes needed to be made to water flow in the city.

He admits the plans are not popular. "There was a petition that included 7000 signatures, but there's been an awareness and there's been a concern every time it rain, people I know are saying 'is this going to be like 2011?'"

"The flood commission of enquiry clearly pointed out there was a 30 per cent reduction in the amount of flow in the CBD as a result of the detention basins in West Creek," the mayor says. "The West Creek basins work well. There were no detention basins that functioned properly in East Creek on that occasion."

The mayor believes the voices of protestors have been heard.

"Had we gone ahead with what we had planned six months ago there would be far less trees surviving. We have listened to those people. "

But according to Dr Brett Robinson, one of the many protestors attending the council meeting, listening and acting are two different things.

"Council demonstrated they have only paid lip service to the people who'd protested this development."

"Council had a lot of option they had to look at and implement. They chose only to look at detention basins, and some minor variations on the detention basin theme. They didn't look at preventing runoff from the areas that are contributing to floods in Toowoomba. One would have thought the key thing to do in any situation is to get to the root cause of the problem. The problem is runoff from the new suburbs high in the catchment.

"What happens now?" Robinson asks.

"We've got a large pool of people who are grieved by this whole situation. They're not going to sit quietly and let council ignore them. They're going to be motivated...It's grossly unjust."