A draft vision statement for Ipswich Central is now open for community feedback, after council engaged with more than 3,500 business, residents and key stakeholders to develop a new framework for the precinct.
Revitalising Ipswich Central: A prospectus to guide change is open to comments from residents and ratepayers until 24 September, with the final document to guide future development and attract investment in the city’s CBD.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said the precinct has so much to look forward to in the years ahead.
“With approximately 325,000 new community members set to join our city by 2041, now is the time to plan for a world-class city centre with a distinctive Ipswich identity,” Mayor Harding said.
“Our vision is for this precinct to stay at the heart of the city’s civic, cultural and economic activity.”
Ipswich Central Redevelopment Committee Chair Councillor Marnie Doyle thanked businesses and residents for sharing their ideas and feedback.
“Council will keep listening to our valued stakeholders and connecting your needs to the investment agenda across government and the private sector,” Councillor Doyle said.
“Your ideas help council ensure our vision for the city aligns with the community’s needs.”
The new framework will be supported by action plans to drive change in the first of two core areas of Ipswich Central, Ipswich Centre Core and Top of Town, with other precincts to follow.
Council engaged with about 3,500 people to create the program, including 662 who participated in pop up events across Ipswich, 200 Ipswich Central businesses doorknocked and 43 local stakeholders who attended the Ipswich Central Business Briefing.
In addition to the engagement, 12 community members came together for the first meeting of the Ipswich Central Partnership Group in July. The group is made up of passionate Ipswich community members who want to contribute and guide change in Ipswich Central. The group will continue to meet monthly.
Revitalising Ipswich Central is now available for public comment at www.ipswichcentral.com.au
About Ipswich Central
Ipswich Central is about 840 hectares of land in the centre of Ipswich extending from Limestone and Queens Parks, including the Ipswich Showgrounds and USQ, West Ipswich, over to the North Ipswich Railyards, back down to North Ipswich Reserve, including both the grammar schools, St Mary’s and St Edmund’s.
I remember a time when Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley was nothing more than a community of migrants with lots of empty shops and office buildings.
It was in 1982 when I arrived from New Zealand to live in Australia.
The area was considered to be the ‘sleazy’ part of town and was central to the Fitzgerald Enquiry.
Now in 2021, it is considered to be the musical entertainment hub of South East Queensland, with thousands of young people, many from Ipswich, gathering there every night of the week to frequent the many clubs and venues and festivals run by City Sounds.
It is affectionately known as ‘Brizvegas” Birds of a feather flock together.
I see the current situation in Ipswich CBD as a similar empty shell, not just because of the many vacant premises, but because of the lack of pedestrians.
Whilst not wanting to create an exact copy of Fortitude Valley, I believe that attracting both residents and tourists to the area can be achieved with music and artistic events alongside an interest in our heritage. It could be a unique experience/culture
The hundreds of young people who catch the train from Ipswich to Fortitude Valley every Friday and Saturday night are not being catered for on their home turf and many people from both Brisbane and the Gold Coast incorrectly hold the opinion that Ipswich is far from being ‘up market’. They need to be educated in a practical way!
This can change and I believe that the relevant Council staff members can implement imaginative programs to help to bring that about, possibly with community funding (grants etc).
In 1972 I was a student at Waikato University in Hamilton New Zealand. There was a hub of musicians who begged the then very conservative local Council to allow them to run what they called ‘Happenings’ in the park next to Hamilton Lake.
Hardly any audience showed up at first but the organizers were passionate and kept it going for months, so that eventually it did become extremely popular. The main instigators were a man named Chris Thompson and Ray Goodwin. In late years Chris became the singer in Manfred Manns’s Earth Band with the hit song ‘Blinded By the Light’. He also wrote the song ‘Your the Voice’ made famous by John Farnham. Ray became the first original guitarist in the band ‘Dragon” and I only mention this as
anecdotal evidence to support my idea about ways to get some excitement back into the CBD, because there are very talented creative people in Ipswich at the moment, but with no practical way to develop their talents.
Perhaps a regular ‘Happening’ in Queens Park would be advantageous, who knows it is different world now to 1972 but humans are social creatures and there is no harm in trying such things. Studio 188 is a great venue for music but it is not free to hire and when I have done so I have always lost money.