Brisbane City Council announces Cannon Links golf course works to start

Work will begin on Brisbane’s newest public golf course at Cannon Hill by the middle of the year, the Brisbane City Council says.

The council has formalised a deal with developers BMD Group, who will pay for the Cannon Hill Links course in exchange for land it will use to create a housing development.

Remediation work will need to occur before the 18-hole course on Creek Road can be created, with degraded bushland to be cleared.

About $5.2 million of ratepayers’ money will be spent this financial year on the remediation.

The course is expected to open in 2018.

Much of Cannon Links, the first new Brisbane public golf course in about 70 years, will be built on wetlands.

“This development will deliver the Southside’s first public golf course at no cost to ratepayers, with the golf course to be funded entirely from the proceeds of a residential development,” Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said.

The council said the Cannon Hill development would include open space parkland.

Doboy Ward councillor Ryan Murphy said land used as a sugar glider habitat would be restored.

Last year, Fairfax Media reported that BMD wanted to build the golf course on 15 hectares of the 125-hectare site, clearing 706 trees.

Plans for the public golf course have been talked about since 1998, however BMD had to deal with numerous legal battles which slowed progress.

BMD Group executive director Scott Power said the company was delighted to finalise the deal with the council.

“BMD is committed to being a good neighbour and to applying the highest level of consideration for the environment,” he said.

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