Toowoomba Regional Council’s 50 Year Rolling Lease: Is it a Historical Legacy That No Longer Confers Any Benefit?
17 June, 2024. Prepared by Max Fulham for the Department Of Environment, Science and Innovation on behalf of the Save Deongwar State Forest Community Group.
In order to permanently protect Deongwar State Forest within Queensland’s conservation estate the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation )DESI) often need to negotiate a variety of existing historical leases such as forest product licences, grazing leases, Exploration for Minerals Application areas and apiary site leases.
In the case of the Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) 50 year rolling lease over 437 hectare of Deongwar State forest it would appear that the lease could be allowed to expire in 2027 without any loss of benefit to TRC. This would allowing this area of Deongwar to transition to the conservation estate to protect the habitat of our native species including our hollow dependant arboreal native species such as the endangered Greater glider, threatened Yellow-bellied glider.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Chris Theodosis, (Property Principle & Acquisitions and Leasing Officer), at Toowoomba Regional Council regarding their 50 year rolling lease in Deongwar State Forest. Chris was able to share that the primary purpose of the lease is to protect the leased land from inappropriate development that could impact TRC Cressbrook Lake water asset.
Whilst Chris suggested that TRC would likely seek to renew the lease in 2027 it appears that it confers little benefit to TRC and is actually a financial burden and potential legal liability. As such TRC may consider allowing the lease to expire if the leased land was afforded a higher level of protection within the conservation estate. The 437 hectare TRC lease area may be seen in Map 1 below.
You may see in Map 2. below that their are three existing Restricted Area (RA) overlays associated with Cressbrook Lake. Two of these, RA31 and RA210, lay across the TRC lease area in the North West section of Deongwar State Forest with RA210 overlaying the majority to the 50 year rolling lease area.
The list below includes what I understand to be the facts regarding the TRC lease.
- The lease expires in 2027.
- There is only one DAF apiary site with in the lease area.
- TRC do not fundamentally 'use' the land.
- TRC pays an undisclosed annual fee to maintain the lease.
- TRC is exposed to public liability via the lease.
- TRC are not permitted to graze sheep or goats.
- DAF staff, DAF permittees and forestry operators have access for timber extraction.
- DAF may ageist stock [historically bullocks] for use by authorised timber getters.
- TRC are required to maintain the land free of noxious plants.
Considering that TRC primarily retain the lease for the propose of protecting the Cressbrook Lake water asset and surrounding land I suggested to Chris that if the leased land was permanently protected with the Queensland's conservation estate it would likely achieve a higher level of protection than it currently does. As such, TRC could justifiably consider unburden itself both financially and legally whist maintaining all previous benefits the 50 year rolling lease provided.
Personally I felt that Chris recognised that TRC could benefit if the leased area was transitioned to the conservation estate. For example, TRC would have less expenditure, less liability and the Cressbrook Lake water asset and surrounding lands would enjoy the same, or higher, level of protection.
So I feel there may be an opportunity for TRC to consider either surrendering, forfeiting or choosing not to renew their lease. Also the existing Restricted Area overlays could happily coexist with the conservation estate tenure as they fundamentally serve the same conservation outcomes.
In support of this, you may see in Map 2 that TRC do not currently have a lease over the South West portion of the restricted area, (RA210), which occupies 545 hectares of Deongwar State Forest. This would suggest that the existing 50 year rolling lease is perhaps not a necessary requirement to protect TRC Cressbrook Lake water asset.
However, if TRC were to exercising their option to renew the lease the terms regarding their responsibilities to control and manage invasive species may need to be renegotiated to reflect current restricted, prohibited and invasive species to ensure they meet their general bio-security obligation, particularly with regarded to Cats Claw vine, Madeira vine, foxes and cats.
If you wished to inquire about the Toowoomba Regional Council lease in Deongwar State Forest Chris Theodosis contact details are show below.
Chris Theodosis
Property Principle & Acquisitions and Leasing Officer
Toowoomba Regional Council
PO Box 3021, Toowoomba, Queensland, 4350, Australia
Ph. 131872
Map 1. Showing the Toowoomba Regional Council 427 Hectare 50 Year Rolling Lease Area Highlighted in Orange and Cressbrook Lake to the Immediate West Highlighted in Blue.
Map 2. Showing Perseverance Lake and Cressbrook Lake and the Three Restricted Areas (RA) and the Extent of RA210 within Deongwar State Forest outlined in White.
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