Funding application moves forward to bolster housing development
Date published: 8 May 2025
Councillors have this week voted to apply for Queensland Government funding to establish trunk infrastructure to enable new housing delivery for Townsville.
The Queensland Government’s Residential Activation Fund includes a $500 million pool for Round 1 and is designed to support investment in enabling infrastructure required for residential and housing development.
The proposal voted on at this week’s Ordinary Meeting included an application for funding to aid the development of Svensson Road from Bruce Highway north to North Shore Boulevard, and for the extension of North Shore Boulevard from Mount Low Parkway west to Svensson Road in the Northern Beaches development area, as well as for Council to move forward with a Consortium Application involving Council, Maidment Group and Turner Owens Group.
Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said the funding would provide Townsville with enabling infrastructure to ensure residential development continued in line with population growth.
“Townsville is a city of opportunity with jobs available in industries like health, manufacturing and education as well as with the Australian Defence Force. We are also a major education hub for North Queensland as the home to James Cook University’s Bebegu Yumba campus and the CQUniversity Townsville campus,” Cr Greaney said.
“With so many avenues to attract residents we are seeing a significant increase in our population, with the Queensland Government projecting Townsville will have about 265,000 residents by 2046.
“To keep up with population growth we need to have growth across our city’s residential development, but local governments and developers in Queensland carry a higher burden for delivering enabling infrastructure like roads, bike paths, water pipelines, pump stations and sewer pipelines than in other parts of Australia.
“To assist Council and local developers in accelerating lot and housing delivery, Council has today voted to apply to the Queensland Government for this critical funding. With a contribution from the Residential Activation Fund Council will be able to work with local developers to deliver traffic relief for Townsville locals, particularly around the Mount Low Parkway and Bruce Highway intersection.
“It’s our hope that the application to the Residential Activation Fund will be approved by the Queensland Government to assist Council and its development partners to deliver this vital infrastructure for our city.
“Council will continue to work with industry to identify priorities for future application rounds for the Residential Activation Fund to further housing and development growth for Townsville.”
